New Grant Awarded to test an integrated model of alcohol treatment for patients with hepatitis C

Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell, assistant research professor of global health in the Duke Global Health Institute and the Duke Center for Health Policy & Inequalities Research, has been awarded a five-year $2.48 million grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to test an integrated model of alcohol treatment for patients with hepatitis C. The integrated model includes brief alcohol counseling from the patient’s hepatologist, collaboration between hepatologists and addictions therapists co-located in the liver clinic, and six months of individual and group therapy primarily focusing on alcohol use and liver health. This integrated model will be compared against brief alcohol counseling from the patient’s hepatologist and referral to the Duke Addictions Program. The study will occur in three clinics: the Duke Liver Clinic, the UNC Liver Clinic, and the Durham VA Liver Clinic.