Dr. Scherer is an Associate Research Scientist and Statistician who has been with PIRE since July of 2014. He has degrees in Rehabilitation Counseling and Counseling Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. He also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Drug Dependence and Epidemiology Training program at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where his research focused primarily on substance use ranging from alcohol and marijuana to injection drug use. His work sought to identify risk factors associated with substance misuse and polysubstance use as well as developing strength-based treatment supplements to promote self-efficacy and reduce relapse rates.
Since joining PIRE, Dr. Scherer has expanded his research to assess rates of alcohol and drug use among drivers in the United States as well as interventions and/or legislation designed to address driving under the influence of alcohol and/or other drugs. He has worked on numerous grants as the senior statistician or PI, examining various aspects of the alcohol ignition interlock experience. This has included developing typologies of drivers who install the device to identify those who are able to adapt their alcohol-related behaviors and those who are not.
Further, he has also done work examining the role of substance use as a coping strategy and looking at how a history of traumatic experiences may impact current substance use and its treatment. He has authored numerous journal articles and presented at national conferences.
Selected Projects
Selected Publications
Scherer, M., Marques, P., Manning, A. R., Nochajski, T. H., Romano, E., Taylor, E., Voas, R., & King, S. (2020). Potential for cannabis adaptation among participants in a drunk driving intervention. Journal of Substance Use, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1080/14659891.2020.1749950
Scherer, M., & Fell, J. C. (2019). Effectiveness of lowering the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for driving from 0.10 to 0.08 grams per deciliter in the United States. Traffic Injury Prevention, 20(1), 1-8. PMCID: PMC6445696. https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2018.1508836
Scherer, M., Canham, S., Voas, R. B., & Furr-Holden, C. D. (2018). Intercorrelation of alcohol and other drug use disorders among a national sample of drivers. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 50(2), 143-150. PMCID: PMC6117115. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2017.1366605
Scherer, M., Romano, E., Voas, R. B., & Taylor, E. (2018). Latent classes of polydrug users as a predictor of crash involvement and alcohol consumption. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 79(3), 481-489. PMCID: PMC6005252. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2018.79.481
Voas, R. B., Yao, J., Scherer, M., Romano, E., & Lacey, J. (2018). Methods for investigating crash risk: Comparing case control with responsibility analysis. Traffic Injury Prevention, 19(8) 812-818. https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2018.1487557
Fell, J. C., & Scherer, M. (2017). Estimation of the potential effectiveness of lowering the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit from .08 to .05 grams per deciliter in the United States. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 41(12), 2128-2139. PMCID: PMC5790204. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.13501
Fell, J. C., & Scherer, M. (2017). Administrative license suspension: Does length of suspension matter? Traffic Injury Prevention, 18(6), 577-584. PMCID: PMC6133240. https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2017.1293257
Scherer, M., Romano, E., Caldwell, S., & Taylor, E. (2017). The impact of retail beverage service training and social host laws on adolescents’ DUI rates in San Diego County, California. Traffic Injury Prevention, 19(2), 111-117. https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2017.1350268
Scherer, M., Harrell, P. T., Trenz, R., Canham, S., & Latimer, W. W. (2016). An exploration of alcohol use severity and route of drug administration among persons that use heroin and cocaine. Substance Abuse, 37(2), 343-348. PMCID: PMC6280665. https://doi.org/10.1080/08897077.2015.1080207