My name is Justin McGraw and I am an Assistant Professor of Biology at D'Youville University in Buffalo, New York. As a neuroscientist, I study brain mechanisms of drug addiction and the impact of drug use on the brain and behavior in order to uncover potential targets for treatment. I have been interested primarily in alcohol's effects on motivation and its impact on the way we process rewards to guide important aspects of choice and decision-making. I am open to studying all drugs of abuse because they impact similar brain areas involved in these processes and can have devastating effects on physical and mental health if misused or abused. I am looking to use my technical and methodological skill set in order to examine these problems most effectively. Ultimately, my goals as a scientist are to improve the prognosis for problematic drug use and substance use disorders, enhance our understanding of the factors involved in drug use, abuse, and addiction, and alleviate negative attitudes toward drug use in order to ameliorate the drug crisis and improve quality of life.
