Sandra Comer, PhD

For the past two decades, Dr. Comer has been investigating novel medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder. She developed a unique laboratory model of drug self-administration in human research volunteers in order to study the ability of potential treatment medications to reduce drug-taking behavior. Thus far, she has examined both agonist (buprenorphine, buprenorphine/naloxone) and antagonist opioid medications (depot naltrexone), as well as glutamate antagonists (memantine, dextromethorphan). Currently, she is studying glial cell modulators (pioglitazone, ibudilast, minocycline) and opioid vaccines as potential treatment medications. In addition to her search for medications that may be useful for treating opioid use disorder, Dr. Comer is currently studying the abuse liability of pain medications such as oxymorphone, oxycodone, and hydromorphone. She is also interested in studying the short- and long-term cognitive deficits that may occur followed opioid overdose.