Keith Williams was a Research
Fellow on the Center's NIAAA funded training grant. Dr. Williams
was involved in projects that examined the mu-opioid receptor
involvement in alcohol dependence and craving using PET, hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal
axis activity during craving, and the hormonal and therapeutic
effects of naltrexone on heavy drinkers enrolled in a moderation
management program. Dr. Williams was also involved in non-human
primate projects designed to characterize the role of endogenous
opioids in alcohol self-administration. Currently, Dr. Williams
is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Grand Valley State
University in Allendale, Michigan. His interests include the
pharmacological and behavioral mechanisms of drug reinforcement
and craving, hormonal influences on drug self-administration,
and contribution of food intake mechanisms on drug consumption.
Dr. Williams' current research program at GVSU is designed
to investigate the relationship between an opioid antagonist's
ability to affect food-reinforced behaviors and its ability
to affect oral ethanol-reinforced behavior in rodents.
