Yale psychiatry professor Marc Potenza has been awarded over $400,000 to found a gambling disorder research center at the University.

The grant from the Institute for Research on Gambling Disorders, to be administered over three years, will provide start-up funds for a “Center of Excellence” at Yale to study gambling disorders. Potenza will head the center, which will investigate “whether the [alcoholism] drug naltrexone will be effective in a ‘real world’ clinical setting,” the NCRG announced in a release May 14. The IRGD has awarded a similar grant to researchers at the University of Minnesota, which will host a center like Yale’s.

“This is trying to understand better how the medication works when it does work and for whom it’s going to work best,” Potenza said.

The grant will allow the center to hire research staff, although Potenza said he is not certain how many and which positions will be filled for the project.