The 2022 HIV Next Generation Conference hosted by CHIPTS welcomed 130 attendees for a day of presentations, discussions, and networking. The conference facilitated by Dallas Swendeman, CHIPTS Development Core Co-Director, welcomed attendees and participants from academic institutions, community-based organizations, health care institutions, and other organizations working to end the HIV epidemic. The day also provided a unique opportunity for cross-collaboration and mentorship.
The conference theme, “Implementation Science for HIV Prevention and Treatment to End the Epidemics” was emphasized throughout the day’s program. Steve Shoptaw, CHIPTS Director and Norweeta Milburn, CHIPTS Development Core Director gave opening remarks to lay the groundwork for the conference. Amaya Perez-Brumer, Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto offered an engaging and informative opening plenary.
The program proceeded with the first set of sessions featuring presentations and panel discussion that occurred concurrently. One set of sessions, moderated by Laura Bogart, CHIPTS Combination Prevention Core Scientist centered on mental health and HIV prevention. The first session featured Jasmine Lucero Lopez, she discussed the impact of a virtual platform to mitigate the effects of isolation among older people living with HIV using Discord. Katherine Lewis highlighted mental health strengths among youth at-risk for and living with HIV. Curtis Wong & Alice Ma shared sexual health promotion methods and decision-making strategies among youth at-risk for HIV in Los Angeles and New Orleans.
The second session running concurrently, facilitated by Dilara K. Üsküp, CHIPTS Policy Impact Core Scientist centered on HIV prevention. The second set featured David Mosqueda & Dino Selders who addressed PrEP/ PEP use disparities amongst marginalized communities by way of a peer-led collaborative initiatives. Lori Zomback described medical student-ran telehealth for HIV testing and counseling among sexual minority men. Pablo Zapata discussed factors associated with HIV testing among Spanish and English speaking Latinx youth.
A second set of two concurrent sessions followed, this set included a session focused on substance use and HIV that was facilitated by Pamina M. Gorbach, CHIPTS Global HIV Director. Boram Kim & Cheng-Shi Shiu began the first session, discussing factors influencing betel nut chewing behavior in people living with HIV in Myanmar. Amanda P. Miller presentation examined substance use and associated intimate partner violence risk among MSM In Los Angeles, California.
A concurrent session facilitated by Jesse Clark, CHIPTS Combination Prevention Scientist Core was the first of the EHE Implementation Science panels. Alison Hamilton discussed the UCLA Rapid, Rigorous, Relevant (3R) implementation science hub and its supporting EHE Initiatives. Wei-Ti Chen addressed intersectional oppression in Asian Pacific Americans with HIV in Southern CA through a implementation science framework. Laura Hoyt D’Anna, Everardo Alvizo & Jaelen Owens collaborated to present on implementing a community-engaged equity approach to identify barriers and facilitators to the PrEP care continuum in Long Beach, CA.
The first panel in the final set focused on policy impact and was facilitated by Ayako Miyashita Ochoa, CHIPTS Policy Impact Core Co-Director. Felipe Findley & Vanessa Warri led an engaging discussion focused on HIV and the carceral state describing the effects of research on health outcomes. The second panel led by Dallas Swendeman, CHIPTS Development Core Co-Director closed the second part of the EHE Implementation Science panels. Ronald A. Brooks presented on implementation strategies that promoted equitable dissemination of LAI and PrEP to Black/Latino MSM and Transgender women in Los Angeles. Raiza M. Beltran & Tam Phan discussed pharmacist delivered PrEP and PEP in three high priority EHE counties in CA. Carl Highshaw & Sung-Jae Lee provided an overview of Haus of C.H.O.P (Choosing Healthy Options for Prevention/PrEP). Corrina Moucheraud & Raphael Landovitz described their project focused on financially incentivizing strategies for HIV prevention in high-incidence populations in LA County.
Over the course of the virtual conference, poster presenters shared their innovative research with attendees during interactive breakout poster sessions. View the posters: https://chipts.ucla.edu/news/2022-chipts-hiv-next-generation-conference-resources/
Finally, CHIPTS Co-Director Raphael J. Landovitz gave the closing remarks, reminding attendees of the conference’s purpose and highlighting the need for innovative interventions to end the HIV Epidemic.
See below for oral presentation PDFs and available recorded presentations.
Welcome and Opening Remarks:
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqcFFA_Kst4
Norweeta Milburn, PhD, Director, CHIPTS Development Core
Steve Shoptaw, PhD, Director, CHIPTS Administrative Core
Conference Facilitator and Announcements:
Dallas Swendeman, PHD, Co-Director, CHIPTS Development Core
Opening Plenary:
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpyL5k6srls
Amaya Perez-Brumer, PhD, MSC, Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Division of Social and Behavioural Health Science
Presentation Title: Who Benefits from Global HIV Prevention Science? A Call for Researcher Accountability
Presentation Summary: To imagine and reimagine a more just praxis for HIV research globally, we, as scholars and practitioners, must grapple with the extreme privilege at the center of who gets to do global HIV health research, who are its beneficiaries, and who are its subjects. To begin to think through these provocations, this talk will discuss three ongoing paradoxes rooted in data politics and the extractive logics at the center of global HIV prevention science.
Set 1 – Panel 1: Mental Health and HIV Prevention
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoqxoWlKwy8
Panel Presentations:
1. A virtual platform to mitigate the effects of isolation among older people living with HIV: Lessons learned in usability with Discord
- Jasmine Lucero Lopez, BS
Slides: Download here
Summary: This presentation will discuss the perspectives of a Community Advisory Board (CAB) on the usability of Discord as a virtual village. We will explore the benefits and drawbacks of this platform for the purpose of this study, based on the opinions expressed by the CAB. Lessons learned from this experience and how to improve future studies will be shared.
2. I have moments where I am down, but it has made me resilient: Mental health strengths among youth at-risk for and living with HIV
- Katherine Lewis, BA
Slides: Download here
Summary: Youth enrolled in several linked HIV prevention and treatment continua studies who participated in a telehealth coaching intervention completed a strengths assessment, and qualitative data on mental health strengths was analyzed using thematic analysis and a resilience lens. Youth self-described mental health strengths included intrapersonal resilience assets (protective traits, stress management activities, feeling positive despite current mental health challenges, and no current mental health challenges) and external resilience resources (social/emotional support, therapy/counseling, and use of mental health medication). These results highlight the utility of strengths-based intervention methods and resilience for youth at-risk for and living with HIV.
3. Sexual health promotion methods and decision-making among youth at-risk for and living with HIV in Los Angeles and New Orleans: A qualitative, choice-based analysis
- Curtis Wong, BSc & Alice Ma, BSc
Slides: Download here
Summary: A strengths-based telehealth coaching intervention was delivered to youth at-risk for or living with HIV in Los Angeles and New Orleans within the context of several linked HIV prevention and treatment continua studies. We used a choice-based framework and qualitative methods to analyze strengths assessment data, which revealed intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural factors that influenced participants’ sexual health decision-making, including decisions regarding PrEP use, condom use, and other strategies. These results demonstrate the utility of self-determination and choice-based frameworks in sexual health promotion efforts for youth.
Set 1 – Panel 2: HIV Prevention
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YewaWlGCMSQ
Panel Presentations:
1. Addressing PrEP/PEP use disparities amongst marginalized communities by way of peer-led collaborative initiative
- David Mosqueda & Dino Selders, B.S
Slides: Download here
Summary: PrEP Furnishing shows promise of assisting marginalized peoples living in primary care healthcare shortage areas. AltaMed fast tracks furnishing initiatives by placing PrEP navigators in the lead when it comes to Patient initial care and retention.
2. Medical student run telehealth for HIV testing and counseling among sexual minority men: Impact on patient experience and implications for student education
- Lori Zomback BS
Slides: Download here
Summary: A group of medical students conducted tele-health HIV testing using OraQuick and provided education and risk-reduction counseling during the turnaround time. There was high participant satisfaction and educational benefit for the students, demonstrating benefits to both public health and medical education.
3. Factors associated with HIV testing among Spanish and English speaking Latinx youth
- Pablo Zapata, PhD
Slides: Download here
Summary: Data for the current project were collected as part of SMART, an ongoing pragmatic trial of an online HIV prevention intervention for adolescent sexual minority youth. Despite higher risk, few Latino youth reported ever having received an HIV test. Results suggest sexual health education and pediatricians are an important, but largely untapped, source of testing and could be further supported with familial support to end the epidemic
Set 2 – Panel 1: Substance Use and HIV
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjQN-n0tArQ
Panel Presentations:
1. Factors influencing betel nut chewing behavior in people living with HIV in Myanmar
- Boram Kim, PhD, RN & Cheng-Shi Shiu, PhD & Wei-Ti Chen, RN, CNM, PhD, FAAN
Slides: Download here
Summary: Despite the WHO classifying betel nuts as a carcinogen with a high risk of oral and laryngeal cancer, Myanmar is one of the world’s largest consumers of betel nuts because chewing betel nuts is socially and culturally influenced in Myanmar. The study aimed to examine factors that influence betel nut chewing in people living with HIV (PLWH) in Myanmar. From a secondary analysis of 2020 Myanmar PLWH data, physiological hyperarousal symptoms and loneliness were associated with increased betel nut chewing among PLWH in Myanmar.
2. Substance use and associated intimate partner violence risk among MSM in Los Angeles, California
- Amanda P. Miller, PhD, MS
Slides: Download here
Summary: Prior work suggests substance use is a risk factor for intimate partner violence but limited research exploring this association among MSM exists. We explored associations between substance use and experiences of IPV among MSM participating in the mSTUDY cohort in Los Angeles. Stimulant use was associated with increased odds of experiencing IPV relative to those reporting no stimulant use and the magnitude of this association was greater among MSM living with HIV.
Set 2 – Panel 2: EHE Implementation Science (PT. 1)
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwbZbwInZYo
Panel Presentations:
1. The UCLA rapid, rigorous, relevant (3R) implementation science hub: Supporting EHE initiatives
- Alison Hamilton, PHD, MPH
Slides: Download here
Summary: The UCLA 3R Hub, a supplement to CHIPTS, is one of eight hubs funded by the NIMH to support EHE pilot Implementation studies. Tis presentation will briefly address the critical role of Implementation science in ending the HIV Epidemic and will describe services and supports that are available to the Southern California community and beyond.
2. Addressing intersectional oppression in Asian Pacific Americans with HIV in southern CA: An implementation science framework
- Wei-Ti Chen, RN, CNM, PhD, FAAN
Slides: Download here
Summary: The purpose of this study is to collaborate with the local Asian Pacific American With HIV (APAWH) community to adapt and evaluate the appropriateness, acceptability, and feasibility of a 4-session, 4-week Social-justice Oriented, Family Informed self-management intervention to promote health among APAWH in Southern California, particularly Orange counties (SOFIAA). The scientific premise is that APAWH experience systematic barriers in healthcare delivery and policies, resulting in poor health outcomes. Additionally, regardless of ethnicity, APAs often prioritize their responsibilities to their families over their own individual needs. Our hypothesis is that APAWH will perceive SOFIAA as acceptable, feasible, and appropriate and a future study will demonstrate SOFIAA may be used to promote family support, decrease the effects of structural racism and HIV-related stigma, and achieve better outcomes in APAWH. This study addresses the critical need to optimize an intervention to promote self-management skills among APAWH by simultaneously addressing the reality and effects of structural racism and discrimination against APAWH from both the mainstream U.S. society and the APA communities.
3. Implementing a community engaged equity approach to identify barriers and facilitators to the PrEP care continuum in Long Beach, CA
- Laura Hoyt D’Anna, MPA, DrPH & Everardo Alvizo, LCSW & Jaelen Owens, BA
Slides: Download here
Summary: The study aims to address the HIV epidemic by improving PrEP linkage, uptake, and retention among Black and Latinx same-gender loving men, transgender women, and other gender-diverse persons in Long Beach, CA. This is a mixed methods study designed to explore barriers and facilitators to engagement along the PrEP care continuum from the viewpoints of community members and current and potential PrEP providers. Findings will inform the following: 1) the Long Beach HIV/STI Strategic Plan, 2) a culturally appropriate PrEP readiness and facilitation tool, and 3) intervention opportunities to be studied in future research.
Set 3 – Panel 1: Policy Impact
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD34aDov8xo
Panel Presentations:
1. HIV and the carceral state: Researching effects on health outcomes
- Felipe Findley, PA-C, MAPS, AAHIVS & Vanessa Warri, MSW
Slides: Download here
Summary: This panel will share broad perspectives of CHIPTS Community Advisory Board member and community partners engaged in CHIPTS PIC work to address disproportionate health outcomes across communities engaged by carceral systems. Panelists will elucidate pathways for researchers to better capture the effects of criminalization on health outcomes.
Set 3 – Panel 2: EHE Implementation Science (PT. 2)
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX9GWa2ZDbo
Panel Presentations:
1. The incentives for prevention study (TIPS): Financially incentivizing strategies for HIV prevention in high incidence populations in LA County
- Ronald A. Brooks, PhD
Slides: Download here
Summary: The project will host 7 informational/educational community workshops to provide up-to-date and relevant information on LAI-PrEP to providers (medical and non-medical) that serve Black/Latino/a MSM and transgender women and potential consumers. Additionally, the project will develop a community-derived and culturally appropriate strategic messaging guide to facilitate ongoing dissemination of LAI PrEP information to our focused populations of providers and consumers.
2. Pharmacist delivered PrEP and PEP in three high priority EHE Counties in CA: An overview
- Raiza M. Beltran, PhD, MPH & Tam Phan, PharmD, AAHIVP
Slides: Download here
Summary: For this presentation, we will provide a short overview of our proposed project that builds community capacity to better examine the facilitators and barriers to pharmacists-furnished HIV services in select priority areas of Southern California.
3. Haus of C.H.O.P. (Choosing healthy options for prevention/PrEP)
- Carl Highshaw, PhD & Sung-Jae Lee, PhD
Slides: Download here
Summary: For this study, we provide a plan on the equity-focused approaches aimed at optimizing engagement of young Black LGBTQ+ individuals across the PrEP care continuum by partnering with House & Ball Community (H&BC) members using social work guiding principles.
4. The incentives for prevention study (TIPS): Financially incentivizing strategies for HIV prevention in high incidence populations in LA County
- Corrina Moucheraud, ScD, MPH & Raphael J. Landovitz, MD, MSc
Slides: Download here
Summary: TIPS is a recently-funded project (an Ending the HIV Epidemic supplement to CHIPTS) that is using a mixed methods approach to understand how best to design an investigational financial incentives program for PrEP use and HIV prevention among young, Latino, Black and African American, cisgender men who have sex with men in South Los Angeles. This represents a collaborative research endeavor between investigators at UCLA, APLA Health & Wellness, and DHSP; and aims to generate policy- and program-relevant insights.