Biography

Dr. Spillane is an associate professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Rhode Island. Prior to joining the faculty at URI, she was an assistant professor at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies (CAAS) in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University (BSS). She also serves on the National Institute of Drug Abuse postdoctoral training committee at CAAS.

Dr. Spillane’s research interests focuses broadly on substance use with a major focus on under-served populations and health disparities. Her work has focused on Indigenous populations in North America, including American Indians in the United States and First Nations in Canada. She recently completed a K08 award, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to examine alternative activities to substance use in a First Nation population. This work will help inform the development and/or adaptation of treatment and prevention programs to reduce the harm associated with substance use in Native communities.

Dr. Spillane also has interest in applying positive psychology to addictive behaviors. She has been involved in adapting positive psychology to smoking cessation and is eager to extend this work to other addictive behaviors.