About me
The primary presenter is currently the track coordinator of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program, and program director, in the Master of Arts in Counseling at Geneva College. He formerly served as the Senior Research Principal at the Pittsburgh Adolescent Alcohol Research Center (PAARC), a part of Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic, for 22 years before resigning his position in 2018. PAARC has the distinction of being the first research center in the U.S. devoted specifically devoted to investigating adolescent alcohol and substance use. During this time at Dr. Matta’s clinical and research focus was specifically targeting adolescents and young adults. In 2021 Dr. Matta was asked by PAARC to serve as one of the community liaison members for the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study (ABCD). The aim of this role is to facilitate the dissemination of the research findings to the mental health profession. The ABCD study is the largest and most comprehensive research study ever conducted involving adolescents. The mission of this National Institute & Clinic study is to increase society’s understanding involving the development of adolescent health. The study is designed to document the progression of children as they navigate through adolescence, peer pressure and drug and alcohol issues. The ABCD research project involves 21 different sites from around the country and has 11,885 adolescents’ participants enrolled in this study.
