Dr Nicola Metrebian

Nicola Metrebian is a Senior Lecturer in Addiction Treatment Studies 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. She has 20 years in addiction research undertaking large clinical RCTS to assess the effectiveness of pharmacological and behavioural interventions for opioid use disorder.

Her research includes 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. She is currently researching the use of mobile telephones to deliver behavioural interventions and undertaking an international study examining the effectiveness of take home naloxone.

Nicola is Chair of the Department of Addictions' Culture, Diversity & Inclusion Working Group and member of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience Diversity and Inclusion Self Assessment Team working group.

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