Nicola Metrebian is a Reader in Addiction Treatment Research in the Department of Addictions. Nicola joined King’s College London in 2005 having previously worked at Imperial College London. She has a background in Psychology and a PhD from Imperial College London Medical School. She has 20 years in addiction research developing and evaluating pharmacological and behavioural interventions for opioid use disorder. Dr Metrebian’s research falls into 3 main topic areas:1) Behavioural Interventions, 2) Naloxone for reversing opioid overdose, and 3) Heroin Assisted Treatment (HAT). Her methods expertise lies predominantly in clinical trials of complex interventions.

Nicola Metrebian’s current research includes developing and evaluating behavioural interventions/contingency management – including face-to-face (COMPEERS) and remote delivery by mobile telephone text message (TIES2) or App (CM4COYN, PRET), and examining the effectiveness of take home naloxone when administered by non-medically trained individuals (NalPORS).

Her previous work has included, evaluating supervised injectable heroin treatment for hard to treat heroin users (RIOTT Trial) and assessing the effectiveness of contingency management (financial incentives) in improving treatment outcomes for those with opioid use disorder receiving opioid agonist treatment (NIHR Research Programme Grant – Hepatitis B & PRAISe Trials). In 2015 she received an EMCDDA Scientific Paper award for her paper published in the Lancet reporting on the benefits of using small financial incentives to encourage the completion of hepatitis B vaccination among individuals receiving opiate treatment. In 2016 she (along with Professor Sir John Strang) received the King’s Award for Research Project of the Year for their research on contingency management.

Nicola is Co-lead of the MSc Addictions Treatment and Practice module, Chair of the Department of Addictions' Culture, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (CEDI) Working Group, and an Associate Editor for the journal, Addiction.

Research Interests

• Opioid use
• Opioid Agonist treatment
• Behavioural interventions
• Contingency management
• Digital technology in healthcare
• Delivering interventions via mobile telephones
• Take Home Naloxone

Research Groups

• Drugs Research Group
• Contingency Management Programme
• Naloxone
• New heroin-assisted treatment
• Randomised Injectable Opiate Treatment Trial
• (RIOTT)
• TIES Project

Expertise and Public Engagement

• Senior Advisor for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) London Research Design Service
• Editorial Board for the journal, Contemporary Clinical Trials

Teaching

• Lectures on behavioural interventions, undertaking clinical trials and drug and alcohol policy on the MSc In Addiction Studies
• Contributes to the Addictions MOOC, the International Programme in Addiction Studies (IPAS), and the MSc in Psychiatric Research
• Supervises research projects on MSc In Addiction Studies and MSc Mental Health Studies