Tamika C. Zapolski, PhD

Bio

Tamika Zapolski, PhD is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry. Her research focuses on risk for substance use and other health behaviors among African Americans.

Given limited integrative literature on understanding African American risk for alcohol use and related problems, Dr. Zapolski developed a theoretical model for African American alcohol use that was recently published in Psychological Bulletin. Using this theoretical model and an ecological framework, Dr. Zapolski has expanded on her research to also understand risk/protective for marijuana use among African Americans. Specifically, she is examining the interactive effect of cultural variables (e.g., parental/peer support, parent/peer substance use, drug use beliefs), and environmental (e.g., access to drugs, school support, neighborhood disorganization) factors to better understand drug choice, course of use and consequences among African American youth and young adult populations.

Dr. Zapolski is currently supported by a K01 training grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to examine physiological pathways through which discrimination impacts substance use vulnerability among African American youth. She is a co-Director of the newly formed Adolescent Behavioral Health Research Program (BHP), a multidisciplinary team of researchers within Indiana University created to improve the health and wellbeing of teenagers and young adults through research, education, and intervention. She is also a Learning for Early Careers in Addiction & Diversity (LEAD) Program scholar and a mentored scientist with the Center for Translational and Prevention Science (CTAPS). She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kentucky in 2013 and completed her internship at the University of Kentucky Medical Center.