The Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH) has granted $2.1 million to UCLA’s Heart for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Therapy Providers (CHIPTS) and the UCLA-CDU Heart for AIDS Analysis (CFAR) to help 4 analysis tasks and an implementation science session hub. These awards will fund tasks to strengthen research-community collaborations and improve implementation methods wanted for the Ending the HIV Epidemic within the U.S. (EHE) initiative.
These awards will help our scientists and group companions to handle the systemic components impacting our most susceptible populations and discover revolutionary implementation methods to assist finish the HIV epidemic. We additionally stay up for persevering with to help the analysis priorities of the EHE initiative via our Implementation Science Hub.”
Steve Shoptaw, CHIPTS director and professor of household drugs on the David Geffen College of Drugs at UCLA
Funded tasks embody:
Advancing HIV Implementation Analysis (Implementation Science Session Hub)
Implementation science performs an essential function within the development of HIV analysis. The sphere acknowledges that healthcare methods, public well being companies and communities typically battle to supply top quality providers with restricted assets. Alison Hamilton, professor-in-residence of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Conduct and chief officer of implementation and coverage on the VA Heart for the Examine of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation & Coverage at Larger Los Angeles Healthcare System, will lead the UCLA Speedy, Rigorous, Related Implementation Science Hub, which is able to provide tailor-made teaching, coaching, and technical help to NIH-supported implementation analysis tasks throughout the U.S. in efforts to finish the HIV epidemic .
Addressing HIV Threat Amongst Weak Youth
Dallas Swendeman, affiliate professor within the Division of Well being Promotion and Behavioral Science within the College of Public Well being at San Diego State College and a licensed scientific psychologist, will lead a undertaking that explores methods to help the implementation of an intervention to scale back HIV threat amongst sexual and gender minority and racial/ethnic minority youth aged 12 to 24. These teams face disproportionate threat of buying HIV as a consequence of numerous components, together with low uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), but efficient and scalable interventions for youth stay restricted. This research will speed up implementation of the Adolescent HIV Drugs Trials Community (ATN) Protocol 149 Optimizing the HIV Prevention Continuum for Youth. The researchers will collaborate with group companions to discover implementation methods for this intervention and put together for utility in real-world settings.
Enhancing HIV Prevention for Transgender and Nonbinary People
Erik Storholm, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences on the Semel Institute, will lead a undertaking to handle low PrEP uptake and persistence amongst transgender and nonbinary people (TGNB) at-risk of HIV in Los Angeles County. A number of syndemic limitations have been discovered to contribute to low PrEP uptake and persistence amongst TGNB people, resembling intimate accomplice violence (IPV) and psychological well being burdens. This undertaking will assess implementation outcomes and preliminary results of integrating IPV prevention and psychological well being providers into an ongoing gender-affirming PrEP program at a Los Angeles-based trans group heart.
Lowering Limitations to HIV Prevention and Therapy amongst Black People
Black People are disproportionately affected by HIV, significantly younger Black sexual minority males. Laura Bogart, professor-in-residence of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences on the Semel Institute and chief officer of implementation and coverage on the VA Heart for the Examine of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation & Coverage at Larger Los Angeles Healthcare System will lead a research to reinforce the implementation methods and create a sero-status impartial model of the Rise intervention, a culturally tailor-made program to handle adherence and retention limitations amongst Black people with HIV. Rise intervention, constructed on a 17-year community-academic partnership, can be expanded and tailor-made to handle PrEP and antiretroviral remedy (ART) uptake and adherence amongst Black People in Los Angeles County and in Jefferson County, Alabama.
Bettering PrEP Entry for Black, Latino Sexual Minority Males and Individuals who Inject Medicine
Dr. Gabriel Edwards, affiliate undertaking scientist on the Geffen College, goals to bridge disparities in PrEP uptake amongst Black and Latino sexual minority males and individuals who inject medication. The research will accomplice with the Los Angeles Facilities for Alcohol and Drug Abuse (L.A. CADA) to supply group outreach to broaden HIV testing and linkage with PrEP navigators to assist facilitate PrEP treatment entry. The research will establish components affecting profitable linkages to PrEP with the intention to develop suggestions for enchancment.
“Taken collectively, these awards mirror UCLA’s and CDU’s dedication to ending the HIV epidemic via revolutionary and community-focused approaches by specializing in populations most impacted by HIV and addressing the systemic limitations that put these populations in danger,” mentioned LaShonda Spencer, director of Drew CARES and professor of pediatrics and inner drugs at Charles R. Drew College of Drugs and Science.