Drew Townsend, Ph.D.

Division of Therapeutics and Medical Consequences

National Institute on Drug Abuse

Email: drew.townsend@nih.gov

Drew Townsend received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 2017 and completed his post-doctoral fellowship within the Pharmacology and Toxicology Department of Virginia Commonwealth University in 2022. He subsequently joined NIDA as a Health Scientist Administrator within the Division of Therapeutics and Medical Consequences. Drew supports NIDA’s preclinical medication development efforts for SUD, overdose reversal, and pain management. He accomplishes this by 1) managing a portfolio of grants and cooperative agreements; 2) overseeing NIDA’s drug self-administration contract within the Addiction Treatment Discovery Program; and 3) serving on NIDA’s Eight Factor Analysis team to advise on scheduling recommendations for drugs within the U.S. Controlled Substances Act of 1970; and serving as a point of contact on DTMC’s funding opportunity announcements.