New affiliate Ai Bo committed to the prevention of adolescent substance use
ai bo art (2)
April 14, 2026
By Teresa Phelan
Ai Bo, an assistant professor in the social work department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, joins the Prevention Research Center, focused on preventing adolescent substance use.
Her work addresses significant challenges within substance use prevention and the way programs aim to reduce harm.
“Programs tend to have a broad focus and they can be challenging to scale due to their complexity and limited prevention resources,” Bo said. “I’m trying to streamline program components while maximizing intervention effects for prevention.”
A key area of her research is developing an innovative prevention model for alcohol use and is working on a grant that would help to accomplish that goal.
“[The grant] is precision-focused, family-based and AI-enabled,” she said. “It is designed to be scalable and achieve population-level impact on alcohol use prevention.”
The levels of prevention play a large role in the effectiveness of prevention, with Bo stressing the importance of having a multi-level perspective.
“There are these different levels of prevention we can target, individual, family, community and structural levels,” Bo said. “They are all very important and complement each other rather than one dominating the field.”
Bo said that the work done at the Prevention Research Center creates connections and collaboration that will contribute to more successful outcomes.
“The PRC is a big group with various experts so I’m looking forward to being exposed to more advanced methodologies and learning more about the dissemination and implementation approaches,” she said.
Not only will the resources help to further guide her research, but she also aims to make an immediate impact on the lives of adolescents, as early intervention is crucial.
“Adolescent substance use initiation risk increases with age. We have to prevent it early to prevent initiation and escalation,” Bo said.
As her career develops, she said she is committed to equity, describing “a culturally sensitive approach to make prevention work across racialized and ethnic groups.”
Recent News
New affiliate Ai Bo committed to the prevention of adolescent substance use
ai bo art (2)
April 14, 2026
By Teresa Phelan
Ai Bo, an assistant professor in the social work department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, joins the Prevention Research Center, focused on preventing adolescent substance use.
Her work addresses significant challenges within substance use prevention and the way programs aim to reduce harm.
“Programs tend to have a broad focus and they can be challenging to scale due to their complexity and limited prevention resources,” Bo said. “I’m trying to streamline program components while maximizing intervention effects for prevention.”
A key area of her research is developing an innovative prevention model for alcohol use and is working on a grant that would help to accomplish that goal.
“[The grant] is precision-focused, family-based and AI-enabled,” she said. “It is designed to be scalable and achieve population-level impact on alcohol use prevention.”
The levels of prevention play a large role in the effectiveness of prevention, with Bo stressing the importance of having a multi-level perspective.
“There are these different levels of prevention we can target, individual, family, community and structural levels,” Bo said. “They are all very important and complement each other rather than one dominating the field.”
Bo said that the work done at the Prevention Research Center creates connections and collaboration that will contribute to more successful outcomes.
“The PRC is a big group with various experts so I’m looking forward to being exposed to more advanced methodologies and learning more about the dissemination and implementation approaches,” she said.
Not only will the resources help to further guide her research, but she also aims to make an immediate impact on the lives of adolescents, as early intervention is crucial.
“Adolescent substance use initiation risk increases with age. We have to prevent it early to prevent initiation and escalation,” Bo said.
As her career develops, she said she is committed to equity, describing “a culturally sensitive approach to make prevention work across racialized and ethnic groups.”
