By virtue of our position and history of working in the problem areas noted above, social workers are well poised to conduct and advance transdisciplinary research that has real-world applicability to improving the health and social functioning of affected individuals. At the same time, social work researchers are confronted with numerous challenges conducting research bridging social and biomedical sciences. This roundtable will bring together social work researchers with transdisciplinary training and research experience to examine and address conceptual, methodological, and practical issues relevant to social workers conducting transdisciplinary research. Issues and questions to be addressed include:

• How can having an understanding of genetic and biological etiologies of disorders and dysfunction be integrated with prevention/intervention models that build upon individual responsibility?

• How are combined pharmacological and psychosocial intervention studies designed? How are the specific combinations of medications and psychosocial therapies selected?

• What are the state-of-the-art (i.e., “gold standard”) biological and psychosocial measures? How comparable are biological and psychosocial measures of the same construct?

• What are the similarities and differences in statistical analyses and modeling of quantitative data from biomedical research versus psychosocial research?

• What kinds of training and supervision are necessary to conduct transdisciplinary research?

• What are the challenges involved in transferring knowledge derived from transdisciplinary findings to community-based service providers?

Discussants will provide a brief overview of the relevant issues to the conduct of social work and transdisciplinary research in their area of expertise. They will discuss the reasons behind how the aforementioned issues were identified and conceived; describe the challenges experienced during the design and conduct of transdisciplinary research; the knowledge, skills, and mechanisms needed to overcome barriers; and new questions and challenges that have arisen.

Presenters (and their area) are listed below:

• Allen Zweben (combination clinical trials) • Diana DiNitto (neurobiology and addictive behaviors) • Michie Hesselbrock (epidemiology) • Elwin Wu (benchtop and applied research) • Victor Hesselbrock (behavioral genetics)

Following the presentations, the Co-Chairs will facilitate a discussion among presenters and session attendees, with an emphasis on eliciting audience members' experiences, questions, solutions, and emerging themes in the pursuit of increasing social workers' capacity to conduct transdisciplinary research. Upon completing the session, attendees will be able to articulate key past, current, and future issues involved in successful and ethical transdisciplinary research. Lessons learned from the collective experiences will be useful to social workers interested in transdisciplinary research.