The Research Society on Alcoholism

Until the 1960s, the small amount of federal funding available in the alcohol field in the USA was provided by a division of the Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Administration. In the late 1960s. the National Council on Alcoholism (NCA) joined the American Medical Society on Alcoholism (AMSA. which accepted only physicians). A group of physicians at NCA-AMSA felt that progress in our field needed the concerted effort of both physicians and non-physician scientists, creating the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in 1977. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) had been created a few years earlier. From 2 50 members in 19 78, the RSA has grown to 1500 in 2001, with a ratio of about three PhDs (with specialities that range from gene therapy to social policy) to each MD. The society holds yearly meetings-visitors can find more information oil the web page (http://www.RSoA.org). The society publishes the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. RSA committees are active in presenting the most recent findings to the public and to elected representatives, and in making recommendations on areas of research that need funding.