MIMOSA-Tunisia

Minnesota-Monastir Stress & Addiction program (MIMOSA)

Team

Dr. Sana El Mhamdi, Co-PI

Dr. Ines Bouanene

Dr. Arwa Ben Salah

Dr. Manel Ben Fredj

This collaboration seeks to establish a transdisciplinary research and capacity building program addressing addictive disorders and mental health comorbidity with a particular focus on stress and life adversity as risk factors. Our specific capacity building goals for this project are to capitalize on our early collaborations by establishing a regional resource center to increase the number of researchers in North Africa. To take advantage of relative stability, geographic centrality, support for research, and long-term collaborations, we will establish this program in Tunisia. Tunisian universities, national and regional agencies, and non-governmental organizations will participate in coordinating and hosting training activities in Monastir, Sousse, and Tunis. Because of the high level of psychosocial stress experienced in this region, we focus on the role of psychosocial stress and life adversity in addictive behaviors and mental health comorbidity and include in our research the focus on tobacco (cigarette and waterpipe).