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 updated June 24, 2008

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Prasanthi Nattala, PhD

Prasanthi Nattala is a NIH- Fogarty International Center funded post-doctoral research fellow with the Epidemiology and Prevention Research Group, under the mentorship of Dr. Linda B. Cottler.

Prasanthi Nattala received her M.Sc. (Psychiatric Nursing) from Father Muller’s College of Nursing, Mangalore, India, in 2000. From 2000-2004, she served as Assistant Professor in Sri Devaraj Urs College of Nursing (SDUCON, attached to RL Jalappa Hospital, a 750-bedded multi-specialty medical center), Kolar, Karnataka, India. During this time, she was involved in conducting project work and seminars, in-service education and workshops, and organizing health clinics for the surrounding rural population in Kolar District. She also co-authored two textbooks on Psychiatric Nursing (Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers Ltd, New Delhi, 2004), besides writing short information articles for various health journals, on topics relevant to the South Indian health scenario.    

In 2004, she was selected for a PhD at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India. For her PhD dissertation, she developed and tested a module on relapse prevention in alcohol dependence. The main aim of her investigation was to find out if outcomes would be different if the patient’s primary caregiver was actively involved in relapse prevention (dyadic intervention), versus no caregiver involvement (individual intervention). Her findings demonstrated the superior nature of dyadic intervention in yielding favorable outcomes over a 6-month follow-up period after discharge. Her other findings in her dissertation included predictors of treatment outcomes, combined effect of medication and psychosocial intervention, and role of genetic influence in affecting treatment gains. These findings were the first of their kind for the Indian population, and her work was thus a pioneering effort in the field.

Her research interests include the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, with a specific focus on children. She is currently working with Dr.Linda Cottler, Phd, MPH, Director of EPRG, on a paper that evaluated the effectiveness of a case management intervention to improve outcomes in a substance-abusing population with co-morbid depression. She is also associated with the National Monitoring of Adolescent Prescription Stimulants Study (N-MAPSS) undertaken by the EPRG. She has recently traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on a NIDA Director’s Travel Award, where she presented her PhD work at the NIDA International Forum Poster Session. 

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