Some of our very own Center of HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services (CHIPTS) faculty and fellows are headed to the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infection (CROI) 2019 so make sure to catch their work at the conference this week! Check out or download the full list below.
For more information about CROI 2019, visit their website or check out their full program.
CHIPTS Members and Affiliates Oral Abstracts and Poster Presentation List for CROI 2019
Norweeta Milburn, PhD is a Professor-in-Residence in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences in the Division of Population Behavioral Health at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She also is the Director of the CHIPTS Development Core.
Norweeta obtained her PhD in Community Psychology from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). After earning her degree, she moved to Washington, DC where she began her teaching and research career. Then in 1990, she accepted a faculty position with Hofstra University in New York, as an Associate Professor of Psychology. From the beginning, Norweeta’s research interest has always been concentrated on working with underserved and marginalized groups, particularly among those most impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Her research specifically focuses on populations who are homeless and from ethnic/racial minority backgrounds with mental health and substance abuse problems.
Since joining UCLA in 1999, she has led or co-led several studies funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, and National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Norweeta recently completed a study that involved adapting the STRIVE (Support to Reunite, Involve, and Value Each Other) intervention and testing its efficacy for young people re-entering communities from the juvenile justice system. Currently, she leads the Health Disparities Core funded by the California HIV/AIDS Research Program that is part of the UCLA Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and AIDS Institute. Among the main goals of the Health Disparities Core is to build and sustain collaborative partnerships between research and at-risk vulnerable communities in Los Angeles County and to facilitate culturally-appropriate outreach and dissemination of research projects to communities that are highly impacted by HIV. Additionally, Norweeta is a Co-Principal Investigator of a NIDA-funded R25 grant, the UCLA HIV/AIDS, Substance Abuse, and Trauma Training Program (HA-STTP). The program trains and provides mentorship to a national cohort of early career ethnic and culturally diverse clinician researchers and post-doctoral scholars to conduct research on reducing substance abuse and HIV transmission in underserved populations at risk for traumatic stress and health disparities.
All of Norweeta’s research, training, and community engagement work are anchored within the context of addressing health disparities in mental illness and drug abuse treatment outcomes, and HIV prevention to promote global health and well-being of adolescents and their families. Norweeta is interested in examining how parental practices, and resources and behaviors with the context of the community system of care can help underserved adolescents develop into healthy functioning adults. Her goal is to develop replicable, sustainable family interventions for underserved adolescents to reduce their risk for HIV, substance abuse and mental illness.
Though work seems to encompass a lot of her life, Norweeta always makes time for her family, which includes her loving spouse and 25 year-old daughter. She enjoys taking walks, going camping, and hiking. Norweeta truly loves living on the West Coast with all the national parks and other wonderful outdoor spaces! One of her personal life goals is to get in at least one more white water rafting trip before she is too old to get in and out of the raft.
Each month, we’re featuring a member of our CHIPTS family and their work! To see past spotlights, check them out on the spotlights page and make sure to check back to see who we feature next!
This post originally appeared on AidsInfo. You can find the original post here with more resources.
February 7, 2019 is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is an annual opportunity to promote HIV education, testing, community involvement, and treatment in black communities. HIV diagnoses among African Americans have declined in recent years. However, more work is needed to reduce HIV among African Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
To learn more, browse this National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day webpage.
January 25, 2019 – The 2019 HIV Next Generation Conference, hosted by CHIPTS welcomed 121 attendees to the UCLA Campus for a day of discussion, learning, and networking. Drs. Steve Shoptaw and Norweeta Milburn gave compelling opening remarks to start the day and was followed by an inspiring and dynamic plenary by USC’s Dr. Ricky N. Bluthenthal, who spoke on his work in the community over the last 25 years.
The day’s agenda featured seven trainees who gave oral presentations of their research projects and received thought provoking questions from the audience, which ranged from researchers, community providers, faculty members, and other students. In addition, seven trainees presented their work through the poster session, lending to many lively conversations that engaged undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers with faculty and the community.
In addition, the conference featured a policy impact panel lead by our Policy Core director Dr. Arleen Leibowitz and included Dr. Ninez Ponce, Ricky Rosales, Craig Pulsipher, and Dr. Nina Harawa. The panel was diverse in background with panelists from the city, state, and various levels of educational institutions which created a stimulating conversation on the impact of policy on research and, likewise, research on policy.
Ms. Wendy Garland of the Los Angeles County Division on HIV and STD Programs (DHSP) gave the afternoon plenary presentation. She provided an update on the Los Angeles County HIV/AIDS Strategy for 2020 and Beyond initiative (https://www.lacounty.hiv/) as well as some key collaborations with CHIPTS. In addition to sharing the priorities for HIV and STD prevention and treatment for Los Angeles County, she highlighted a number of collaborations in the works, which received excitement from many conference attendees.
Dr. Steve Shoptaw presented the closing plenary on Methamphetamine and HIV Treatment and Prevention that gave insight into the current state of the opioid crisis and it’s impact on those living with HIV and those at risk. Dr. Norweeta Milburn‘s left everyone inspired and hopeful for the future with her closing statements, proving the conference to be a full day of science, networking, and learning.
You can download all of the presentations (individually or in one pdf) and the full program below! We’ve also posted our Gallery on Facebook so make sure to check out all of the photos from the conference.
Next Generation Program:
2019 HIV Next Generation Conference - Agenda
All Presentations:
Health Disparities in HIV-Positive Incarcerated and Post-Incarcerated Populations - Slides
Steve Shoptaw, PhD
Director, UCLA CHIPTS
Professor, UCLA Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science
Vice Chair, Research in Family Medicine
Norweeta Milburn, PhD
Professor-in-Residence, UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
Co-Director, UCLA HIV/AIDS, Substance Abuse, and Trauma Training Program (HA-STTP)
Director, UCLA Center For AIDS Research Health Disparities Core
Director, Development Core, UCLA CHIPTS
Morning Plenary: Lessons learned from 25 years of combatting HIV among people who inject drugs (PWID) - Slides
Ricky N. Bluthenthal, PhD
Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, USC Keck School of Medicine
Professor, Institute for Prevention Research, USC Keck School of Medicine
Discussant, Ricky N. Bluthenthal, PhD
Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, USC Keck School of Medicine
Professor, Institute for Prevention Research, USC Keck School of Medicine
Kelsey Simpson, MA
Correlates of mental health disorders in people who inject drugs (PWID) - Slides
Wei Cao, MS
Challenges facing HIV-positive clients in methadone maintenance treatment in China - Slides
Arleen Leibowitz , PhD
UCLA, CHIPTS Policy Core
Professor Emeritus, Department of Public Policy, UCLA School of Public Affairs
Ninez Ponce, MPP, PhD
Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, UCLA FSPH
UCLA California Health Interview Survey (CHIS)
Ricky Rosales, BA
LA City AIDS Coordinator
Craig Pulsipher, MPP, MSW
State Affairs Specialist, APLA
Nina Harawa, PhD, MPH
UCLA, CHIPTS Policy Core
Professor, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Discussant, Dallas Swendeman, PhD, MPH
Co-Director, Development Core, UCLA CHIPTS
Associate Professor, UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
Co-Director, UCGHI Center of Expertise on Women’s Health, Gender and Empowerment
Anne E. Fehrenbacher, PhD, MPH
Gender disparities in prevalence, frequency, and baseline correlates of transactional sex among high-risk adolescents - Slides
Drew Wood-Palmer, BS
Prevalence of Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and Syphilis Antibody Among High-risk Adolescents in Los Angeles and New Orleans - Slides
Afternoon Plenary: Update on HIV in Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles County HIV/AIDS Strategy - Slides
Wendy Garland, MPH
Chief Epidemiologist, Division of HIV and STD Programs, LAC DPH
Discussant, Cathy Reback, PhD
Senior Research Scientist, Friends Research Institute, Inc.
Executive Director, Friends Community Center
Core Director, Combination Prevention Core, UCLA CHIPTS
Michael Li, PhD, MPH
Stimulant use, housing instability, and depressive symptoms comorbid conditions and viral trajectories in the context of coordinated HIV care in Los Angeles County - Slides
Sabrina Smiley, PhD
Jackd dating application motivation, experiences, and sexual risk behaviors a qualitative study - Slides
Siddharth Raich, MPH
Health Disparities in HIV-Positive Incarcerated and Post-Incarcerated Populations - Slides
Methamphetamine and HIV Treatment and Prevention
Steve Shoptaw, PhD
Director, UCLA CHIPTS
Professor, UCLA Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science
Vice Chair, Research in Family Medicine
Norweeta Milburn, PhD
Professor-in-Residence, UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
Co-Director, UCLA HIV/AIDS, Substance Abuse, and Trauma Training Program (HA-STTP)
Director, UCLA Center For AIDS Research Health Disparities Core
Director, Development Core, UCLA CHIPTS
Steve Shoptaw, PhD
Director, UCLA CHIPTS
Professor, UCLA Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science
Vice Chair, Research in Family Medicine
Benjamin Jones, BA
What’s missing? Investigating the gaps between PrEP knowledge, eligibility, and utilization among at-risk youth - Slides
Carla Del Cid, BS
Incorporating dating application strategies to recruit youth at risk or youth living with HIV (ATN CARES Project) - Slides
Diep Nguyen, MD
Perceived occupational risk and negative attitude towards people who use drugs among community health workers in Vietnam - Slides
Jesse Goldshear, MPH
Nutritional differences among people who use drugs from a multi-site study in California - Slides
Joan Christodoulou, PhD
Crystal clear with the Medication Adherence Trainer (MAT): An interactive educational demonstration to increase knowledge and adherence to antiretroviral therapy among youth living with HIV
Loc Pham, MS
Social support and motivation to change among people who use drugs in Vietnam - Slides
Melissa Medich, PhD, MPH
The pull of soccer and the push of Xhosa boys in an HIV and drug abuse intervention in the Western Cape, South Africa - Slides
We would like to thank the members of the Conference Planning Committee for their countless hours in planning and organizing this conference including: Isabelle Chu, Damilola Jolayemi, Uyen Kao, Norweeta Milburn, and Dallas Swendeman.
Also, we would like to thank the generous volunteers who helped with today’s event: Jennifer Baughman and Sandra Cuevas.
After months of development, the CHIPTS Community Advisory Board (CAB) proudly presents an infographic on U=U specifically for women this January (2019) for this year’s CAB Initiative. The infographic includes short, concise, and informative statements regarding U=U for women.
We highly encourage women to seek out more information regarding U=U, viral load, viral suppression, and pregnancy from a medical provider.
Two versions of this infographic are available for download: an editable version (with room for providers to add their contact information) and the original version.
U=U for Women - Infographic (Original)
U=U for Women - Infographic (Editable)
A Spanish version of the Infographic is also available. I=I para Las Mujeres - Infografia
Please contact Damilola Jolayemi at ojolayemi@mednet.ucla.edu for more information.
This article originally appeared on hiv.gov and was cross-posted from NIH Director’s Blog. You can view the original article here.
For almost four decades, researchers have worked tirelessly to find a cure for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS. There’s still more work to do, but a recent commentary published in JAMA [1] by Anthony Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and his colleagues serves as a reminder of just how far we’ve come. Today, thanks to scientific advances, especially the development of effective antiretroviral therapy (ART), most people living with HIV can live full and productive lives. These developments have started to change how our society views HIV infection.
In their commentary, the NIH scientists describe the painstaking research that has now firmly established that people who take ART daily as prescribed, and who achieve and maintain an undetectable viral load (the amount of HIV in the blood), cannot sexually transmit the virus to others. To put it simply: Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U).
The U=U message was introduced in 2016 by the Prevention Access Campaign, an international health equity initiative that aims to help end the HIV epidemic and HIV-related social stigma. The major breakthrough in combination ART regimens, which successfully reduced viral loads for many HIV patients, came over 20 years ago. But their importance for HIV prevention wasn’t immediately apparent.
There’d been some hints of U=U, but it was the results of the NIH-funded HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 052, published in The New England Journal of Medicine [2] in 2011, that offered the first rigorous clinical evidence. Among heterosexual couples in the randomized clinical trial, no HIV transmissions to an uninfected partner were observed when ART consistently, durably suppressed the virus in the partner living with HIV.
The data provided convincing evidence that ART not only treats HIV but also prevents the sexual transmission of HIV infection. The public health implications of what’s sometimes referred to as “treatment as prevention” were obvious and exciting. In fact, the discovery made Science’s 2011 list of top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year .
Three subsequent studies, known as PARTNER 1 and 2 and Opposites Attract, confirmed and extended the findings of the HPTN 052 study. All three showed that people with HIV taking ART, who had undetectable HIV levels in their blood, had essentially no risk of passing the virus on to their HIV-negative partners.
Of course, the success of U=U depends on people with HIV having the needed access to health care and taking their medications as prescribed every day of their lives [3]. ART works by preventing the virus from making more copies of itself. It’s important to note that achieving an undetectable viral load with treatment can take time—up to 6 months. Viral load testing should be performed on a regular basis to ensure that the virus remains at undetectable levels. If treatment is stopped, the virus typically rebounds within a matter of weeks. So, strict adherence to ART over the long term is absolutely essential.
Practically speaking, though, ART alone won’t be enough to end the spread of HIV, and other methods of HIV prevention are still needed. In fact, we’re now at a critical juncture in HIV research as work continues on preventive vaccines that could one day bring about a durable end to the pandemic.
But for now, there are more than 35 million people worldwide who are HIV positive [4]. With currently available interventions, experts have predicted that about 50 million people around the world will become HIV positive from 2015 to 2035 [5]. Work is proceeding actively on the vaccine, and also on ways to totally eradicate the virus from infected individuals (a “cure”), but that is proving to be extremely challenging.
Meanwhile, with continued advances, including improved accessibility to testing, adherence to existing medications, and use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in high risk individuals, the goal is to reduce greatly the number of new cases of HIV/AIDS.
[1] HIV Viral Load and Transmissibility of HIV Infection: Undetectable Equals Untransmittable. Eisinger RW, Dieffenbach CW, Fauci AS. JAMA. 2019 Jan 10.
[2] Prevention of HIV-1 infection with early antiretroviral therapy. Cohen MS, Chen YQ, McCauley M, Gamble T, Hosseinipour MC, Kumarasamy N, Hakim JG, Kumwenda J, Grinsztejn B, Pilotto JH, Godbole SV, Mehendale S, Chariyalertsak S, Santos BR, Mayer KH, Hoffman IF, Eshleman SH, Piwowar-Manning E, Wang L, Makhema J, Mills LA, de Bruyn G, Sanne I, Eron J, Gallant J, Havlir D, Swindells S, Ribaudo H, Elharrar V, Burns D, Taha TE, Nielsen-Saines K, Celentano D, Essex M, Fleming TR; HPTN 052 Study Team. N Engl J Med. 2011 Aug 11;365(6):493-505.
[3] HIV Treatment (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
[4] HIV/AIDS (World Health Organization)
[5] Effectiveness of UNAIDS targets and HIV vaccination across 127 countries. Medlock J, Pandey A, Parpia AS, Tang A, Skrip LA, Galvani AP. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Apr 11;114(15):4017-4022.
This announcement originally appeared on HSC News. To access the original article, click here.
Ricky Bluthenthal, PhD, has been appointed associate dean for social justice at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, effective Jan. 1. Bluthenthal, who is a professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and a member of the Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research at the Keck School, was appointed to the newly created role by Keck School Dean Laura Mosqueda, MD.
In this new role, Bluthenthal will establish a new Office for Social Justice within the medical school administration. The fundamental premise of such an office is that all people should receive basic benefits from the “institutions of society” based on justice, fairness, and the advancement of the public good. Specifically relating to health care, the Office of Social Justice may address such issues as community health, disparities in the provision of health services and treatment, fairness in public health policy, and advocacy for the fair distribution of health services and treatment. A key first step in establishment of the new Office of Social Justice will be a “Listening Tour,” where Bluthenthal will engage with community leaders, school and medical center leaders, faculty, staff and university colleagues in identifying and prioritizing areas of focus.
An important second area of effort will be in the development of curricula for medical and graduate students that explore issues such as how social justice relates to access to health care and fairness in public health policy, as well as to develop opportunities for advocacy.
Through his research and community leadership, Bluthenthal has been an active participant in social justice reforms for minorities and disadvantaged members of society….(Read More).
Registration Link: https://goo.gl/forms/2Tw0nwIArUVdB4y93
You can see the Agenda below or download it and parking instructions here:
2019 HIV Next Generation Conference - Agenda
[Download not found]
Latoya Small, MSW, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Luskin School of Public Affairs, Department of Social Welfare and is part of the Policy Impact Core at CHIPTS. Her research examines how social determinants of health are associated with HIV treatment outcomes in both the U.S. and Sub-Saharan Africa. More specifically, her work aims to develop evidence-based interventions focused on HIV and behavioral health among women and children, within the context of poverty. Currently, Latoya has a project that is looking at how poverty, stress, parenting, and mental health factors impact adherence to HIV medical services among Black women in urban Los Angeles.
Prior to her research career, she provided direct clinical services for almost 10 years. As a clinical social worker, Latoya provided mental health services to children and families in her hometown of South Los Angeles and later worked with persons who had severe and persistent mental illness, in a state psychiatric facility. Her international social work began when she worked with children in foster care in the United Kingdom. Afterwards, she moved to South Africa where she gained her first experience in conducting HIV research among vulnerable youth. These experiences laid the foundation for her health disparities research on HIV and behavioral health.
In 2015, Latoya received funding from the International AIDS Society to lead a two-year study entitled, “VUKA EKHAYA: A Take Home Family Intervention to Improve Adherence and Reduce Behavioral Risk among Perinatally HIV-Infected Youth.” This intervention was informed by community-based participatory research and aimed to address the need for empirically-informed and sustainable HIV care approaches for perinatally HIV-infected youth in Durban, South Africa. The study was a culturally-informed, cartoon-based family intervention designed for low-literacy populations, targeting mental health and risk behaviors of seropositive underserved youth.
Currently, Latoya is conducting a CHIPTS-funded pilot study, examining the relationship between mental health and treatment adherence for African American women living with HIV in urban Los Angeles. Charged by the recent policies that perpetuate inequities and health disparities faced by transgender people, Latoya adapted her research to include the needs of the transgender women and children, to better understand their unique experiences. This led her to receiving a UCLA junior faculty award to explore whether exposure to violence, discrimination, and health differ by race among transgender persons across different regions of the United States.
When she is not working, Latoya enjoys reacquainting herself with Los Angeles beaches, exploring taco stands, and hiking in Griffith Park.
Each month, we’re featuring a member of our CHIPTS family and their work! To see past spotlights, check them out on the spotlights page and make sure to check back to see who we feature next!
The CHIPTS’ Methods Core hosts a monthly seminar series, which are one-hour workshops on research and statistical methods. The seminars are open to HIV researchers, faculty, students, and community. To see previous seminars, check out the Methods Seminar tag or you can find seminar videos on our Youtube Channel! This series is hosted by the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services (CHIPTS) and made possible by funds from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH058107).