People - CHIPTS - Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services

27Feb

Christina M. Ramirez, PhD

Christina M. Ramirez, PhD research interests generally relate to uncovering the mechanisms behind HIV and viral pathogenesis. To this end, Christina works closely with investigators in the clinical and basic sciences. Christina is particularly interested in drug resistance mutation/recombination, viral fitness and HIV co-receptor utilization. Christina works to develop methods to understand the evolutionary dynamics of gene regions under the selective pressure of the host immune system and antiretroviral. Christina also is interested in complex, high-dimensional data analysis where we have large p and small n. This has led to the development of machine learning methods for complex data with correlation.

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Shao, S., Henrique Ribeiro, P., Ramirez, C. M., & Moore, J. H. (2024). A review of feature selection strategies utilizing graph data structures and Knowledge Graphs. Briefings in bioinformatics, 25(6), bbae521.

2. Zhang, J., Sehl, M. E., Shih, R., Breen, E. C., Li, F., Lu, A. T., Bream, J. H., Duggal, P., Martinson, J., Wolinsky, S. M., Martinez-Maza, O., Ramirez, C. M., Horvath, S., & Jamieson, B. D. (2024). Effects of highly active antiretroviral therapy initiation on epigenomic DNA methylation in persons living with HIV. Frontiers in bioinformatics, 4, 1357889.

3. Sehl, M. E., Breen, E. C., Shih, R., Li, F., Zhang, J., Langfelder, P., Horvath, S., Bream, J. H., Duggal, P., Martinson, J., Wolinsky, S. M., Martinez-Maza, O., Ramirez, C. M., & Jamieson, B. D. (2024). Decreased but persistent epigenetic age acceleration is associated with changes in T-cell subsets after initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy in persons living with HIV. Frontiers in bioinformatics, 4, 1356509.

Last updated: 1/16/2025

15Feb

Cherie Blair MD, PhD

Cherie Blair MD, PhD is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where she specializes in Infectious Diseases. She went to medical school at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and completed her residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship training in Infectious Diseases at UCLA. During her fellowship training, she participated in the UCLA STAR program where she obtained a PhD in Health Policy and Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Her interests include sexually transmitted infections, HIV prevention, substance use, and public health. Currently, her research is primarily focused on the impacts of substance use and sexually transmitted infections on systemic and mucosal inflammation. She is a clinical provider at the UCLA CARE Center, where she focuses on the prevention and treatment of HIV and other STIs.

Contact email: CherieBlair@mednet.ucla.edu

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Blair, C. S., & Shoptaw, S. J. (2024). Managing Stimulant Use Among People With HIV: Harm-Reduction Strategies From Behavior to Medication. Topics in antiviral medicine, 32(5), 571–578.

2. Harris, C. L., Blair, C. S., Segura, E. R., Gutiérrez, J., Lake, J. E., Cabello, R., & Clark, J. L. (2024). Sexual network characteristics, condomless anal intercourse, and the HIV care cascade among MSM living with controlled versus uncontrolled HIV infection in Lima, Peru: a population-based cross-sectional analysis. Lancet regional health. Americas, 32, 100722.

3. Freese, J., Segura, E. R., Gutierrez, J., Lake, J. E., Cabello, R., Clark, J. L., & Blair, C. (2024). Sexual network characteristics and partnership types among men who have sex with men diagnosed with syphilis, gonorrhoea and/or chlamydia in Lima, Peru. Sexually transmitted infections, 100(2), 84–90.

Last updated: 1/15/2025

6May

Chelsea L. Shover, PhD

Chelsea L. Shover, PhD is an epidemiologist and Assistant Professor-in-Residence at the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research. She completed her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of California Los Angeles and a postdoctoral fellowship in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Her research focuses on substance use, infectious disease, and their shared social and structural risk factors. Her 2019 study on the changed association between cannabis laws and opioid overdose mortality was named among that year’s top 10 Proceeding of the National Academy of Science papers contributing to public understanding of science. She co-authored a report published in The Lancet: “Responding to the opioid crisis in North America and beyond: recommendations of the Stanford–Lancet Commission.” Alongside her academic work, she has served as an epidemiologist in government and non-profit positions, most recently as Supervising Epidemiologist for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 response in homeless shelters and encampments. Supported by a Career Development Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, her lab’s current projects include methods to use rapidly available overdose data to inform public health policy, as well as community-based implementation of harm reduction strategies. Using medical examiner data, her team has identified key local drug supply changes (i.e., fentanyl’s westward spread; xylazine’s increasing presence in various markets) and then worked with policymakers and community organizations to improve on-the-ground overdose prevention.

CV: Chelsea Shover CV - May 2022

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Rosen, A. D., Senturia, A., Howerton, I., Kantrim, E. U., Evans, V., Malluche, T., Miller, J., Gonzalez, M., Robie, B., Shover, C. L., Chang, A. H., Behforouz, H., Nguyen, A., & Thomas, E. H. (2023). A COVID-19 Vaccination Program to Promote Uptake and Equity for People Experiencing Homelessness in Los Angeles County. American journal of public health, 113(2), 170–174.

2. Edwards, G. G., Miyashita-Ochoa, A., Castillo, E. G., Goodman-Meza, D., Kalofonos, I., Landovitz, R. J., Leibowitz, A. A., Pulsipher, C., El Sayed, E., Shoptaw, S., Shover, C. L., Tabajonda, M., Yang, Y. S., & Harawa, N. T. (2023). Long-Acting Injectable Therapy for People with HIV: Looking Ahead with Lessons from Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. AIDS and behavior, 27(1), 10–24.

3. Friedman, J., Godvin, M., Molina, C., Romero, R., Borquez, A., Avra, T., Goodman-Meza, D., Strathdee, S., Bourgois, P., & Shover, C. L. (2023). Fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine-based counterfeit pills sold at tourist-oriented pharmacies in Mexico: An ethnographic and drug checking study. Drug and alcohol dependence, 249, 110819.

Last updated: 1/21/2025

6May

Amanda Miller, PhD, MS

Dr. Amanda Miller has been conducting HIV and substance use research since 2010. She received her doctorate from University of California, San Diego (UCSD), her masters from University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and she is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Miller’s research primarily focuses on the synergy between alcohol use, experiences of intimate partner violence and HIV. Her dissertation research examined how alcohol use and intimate partner violence impact HIV care and treatment outcomes in Uganda. Her postdoctoral research is focused on addressing perinatal alcohol use among pregnant and breastfeeding women who are at high risk of HIV infection of living with HIV in South Africa. She is also co-investigator on a study to assess the feasibility of integrating point of care syphilis testing into routine antenatal care in Uganda and has ongoing mental health research at the same study site aimed at characterizing drivers of poor mental health and substance use and identifying gaps in mental health literacy in this setting to inform adaptation of interventions to address these issues.

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Bulamba, R. M., Nalugoda, F., Nkale, J., Kigozi, G., Ochieng, A. M., Kyasanku, E., Watya, S., Olwa, V. O., Daama, A., Nkwanzi, V., Kiwanuka, D., Mugamba, S., Kigozi, G., Wagman, J., Ekström, A. M., Nakigozi, G., & Miller, A. P. (2024). Examining associations between mental health and Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (C-NCDs) among older adults in Wakiso, Uganda. PloS one, 19(6), e0293993.

2. Appa, A., Miller, A. P., Fatch, R., Kekibiina, A., Beesiga, B., Adong, J., Emenyonu, N., Marson, K., Getahun, M., Kamya, M., Muyindike, W., McDonell, M., Thirumurthy, H., Hahn, J. A., Chamie, G., & Camlin, C. S. (2024). Participant perspectives on incentives for TB preventative therapy adherence and reduced alcohol use: A qualitative study. PLOS global public health, 4(4), e0002472.

3. Miller, A. P., Dean, S. S., Court, L., Mvududu, R., Mashele, N., Wara, N. J., Myer, L., Shoptaw, S., & Davey, D. L. J. (2024). “So that’s why I found PrEP to be safest way to protect yourself”: exploring IPV experiences and impact on HIV prevention among pregnant and postpartum women in Cape Town, South Africa. BMC public health, 24(1), 481.

Last updated: 1/16/2025

31Mar

Sabrina L. Smiley, PhD, MPH

Sabrina L. Smiley, PhD, MPH, MCHES is Assistant Professor of Public Health in the Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Science at San Diego State University School of Public Health. She is currently a combination prevention core scientist at CHIPTS, an inaugural CHIPTS Bridge Fellow (2021-2022), and a past scholar in the UCLA HIV/AIDS, Substance Abuse and Trauma Training Program (HA-STTP). Her NIDA-funded, HA-STTP pilot study examined momentary changes in substance use, sexual risk behavior, and HIV risk perception over time among young adult sexual minority Black men in Washington, D.C. Smiley’s primary research interests are all within the area of health disparities and health equity. Currently, Smiley is leading NIH-funded projects and California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program-funded projects in addiction risk, public policy, and community engagement. She completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in the NCI/FDA-funded Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science in the Department of Preventive Medicine at KSOM of USC before faculty appointment. Smiley received her Ph.D. in sociology from Howard University, where she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. She completed her M.P.H. in health behavior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health. Her research findings have been published in journals such as Current HIV/AIDS Reports, Journal of Medical Internet Research, Nicotine & Tobacco Research, and Tobacco Control.

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Brown, N., Shin, H., & Smiley, S. L. (2024). Perceptions of the Harm of Cigarettes, Mental Health, and Quality of Life Among Transgender Adults Who Smoke Menthol Cigarettes: Results from Wave 5 of the Population Assessment for Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study. International journal of environmental research and public health, 21(12), 1618.

2. Smiley, S. L., & Shin, H. (2024). Trends in fatal opioid overdoses and opioid-related emergency department visits among the black population in California, 2011-2022. Journal of the National Medical Association, 116(5), 607–610. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnma.2024.10.002

3. Smiley, S. L., & Rose, S. W. (2024). What Will It Take to Achieve Equity in Policies Restricting Menthol and Other Flavored Nicotine and Commercial Tobacco Products?. Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, 26(Supplement_2), S61–S64.

Last updated: 1/17/2025

20Mar

Edgar Enrique Sanchez, MPH

Edgar Enrique Sanchez, BS, serves as the CHIPTS Core Coordinator. Responsibilities include supporting center-wide communications (maintaining the CHIPTS website, email listservs, and social media accounts); collecting and organizing information for evaluating center-related activities; supporting center data compilation and literature reviews; and providing administrative and coordination support for center events and meetings. Prior to working with CHIPTS, Mr. Sanchez provided administrative support to both government agencies and local non-profit organizations in Los Angeles County. He is heavily involved in community outreach, having promoted health education on a series of health challenges: Type 2 Diabetes, Leukemia & Lymphoma, and most recently COVID-19. He is a recent graduate from California State University – Los Angeles and has a Bachelor of Science in Public Health.

Contact: EESanchez@mednet.ucla.edu

5Mar

Gabriel Edwards, MD, MPH

Gabriel Edwards, MD, MPH, is an Assistant Project Scientist at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. His work centers around studying mobile peer-based service navigation interventions to reduce risk of HIV, STIs, and recidivism among the recently incarcerated. He leads efforts by the Policy Impact Core to disseminate CHIPTS investigators’ research findings to policymakers and policy advocates. Prior to his position at UCLA, he completed a post-doc year at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he focused on mental health care transitions for people with serious medical illness leaving the hospital. He earned his BA at University California, Berkeley, MD at Oregon Health & Science University, and most recently his MPH at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management.

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Edwards, G. G., Miyashita-Ochoa, A., Castillo, E. G., Goodman-Meza, D., Kalofonos, I., Landovitz, R. J., Leibowitz, A. A., Pulsipher, C., El Sayed, E., Shoptaw, S., Shover, C. L., Tabajonda, M., Yang, Y. S., & Harawa, N. T. (2023). Long-Acting Injectable Therapy for People with HIV: Looking Ahead with Lessons from Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. AIDS and behavior, 27(1), 10–24.

2. Edwards, G. G., Reback, C. J., Cunningham, W. E., Hilliard, C. L., McWells, C., Mukherjee, S., Weiss, R. E., & Harawa, N. T. (2020). Mobile-Enhanced Prevention Support Study for Men Who Have Sex With Men and Transgender Women Leaving Jail: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR research protocols, 9(9), e18106.

Last updated: 1/21/2025

22Feb

Paul Adamson, MD

Paul Adamson MD, MPH is a Clinical Instructor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he specializes in Infectious Diseases. He went to medical school at the UC San Francisco School of Medicine and completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He completed fellowship training in Infectious Diseases at UCLA. His interests include public health, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV prevention. Currently, his research is primarily focused on improving the diagnosis and treatment of STIs among key populations in global health settings, with an emphasis in antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea. He also participates in a variety of COVID-19 related research and advocacy projects. He is a clinical provider at the UCLA CARE Center, where he focuses on the prevention and treatment of HIV and other STIs.

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Allan-Blitz, L. T., Chan, K., Adamson, P., Klausner, J. D., & Hsu, K. (2024). The Role of Emergency and Primary Care in Combating the Rise of Gonorrhea: Another Purview Paradox?. Journal of primary care & community health, 15, 21501319241303609.

2. Bui, H. T. M., Adamson, P. C., Nguyen, T. C., Dau, N. S., Nguyen, K. D., Pham, L. Q., Le, G. M., & Klausner, J. D. (2024). Preferences and Acceptability of Testing for Sexually Transmitted Infections in an HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis clinic in Hanoi, Vietnam. Sexually transmitted diseases, 10.1097/OLQ.0000000000002109. Advance online publication.

3. Dong, H. V., Adamson, P., Pham, D. H., Pham, Q. H., Le, H. H. L., Pham, L. Q., Bui, H. T. M., Le, G. M., & Klausner, J. D. (2024). Antimicrobial susceptibilities of oral Neisseria from men on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis in Hanoi, Vietnam. Journal of global antimicrobial resistance, 40, 11–14. Advance online publication.

Last updated: 1/15/2025

24Apr

Alex Dubov, PhD

Alex (Oleksandr) Dubov, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Behavioral Health and Bioethics at Loma Linda University. He earned his PhD in Bioethics from Duquesne University, where his thesis investigated the use of Behavioral Economics to facilitate crucial choices at the end of life. He has worked at Emory University Hospital as a Palliative Care Counselor and at Florida Hospital as a Certified Healthcare Ethics Consultant. Dr. Dubov completed his postdoctoral training at Yale School of Public Health Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS as a REIDS fellow (Research Education Institute for Diverse Scholars). At Yale, he was awarded a grant to design a public health HIV prevention program based on preferences of Ukrainian LGBT. This research was also supported by the USAID fund and presented to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health. His research interests are in leveraging new and emerging technologies as innovative approaches for supporting the implementation of combination (biomedical, behavioral, and health system) interventions to prevent HIV infection among groups that are epidemiologically at high-risk for infection and whose prevention needs are complicated by their socially marginalized statuses in their communities.

Contact: adubov@llu.edu

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Dubov, A., Basenko, A., Dymaretskyi, O., & Shoptaw, S. (2024). Impact of the Russian invasion on opioid agonist therapy programs in Ukraine: A qualitative study. Drug and alcohol dependence, 255, 111069.

2. Dubov, A., Altice, F. L., Gutierrez, J. I., Wickersham, J. A., Azwa, I., Kamarulzaman, A., Gautam, K., & Shrestha, R. (2023). Pre-exposure prophylaxis service among men who have sex with men in Malaysia: findings from a discrete choice experiment. Scientific reports, 13(1), 14200.

3. Dubov, A., Krakower, D. S., Rockwood, N., Montgomery, S., & Shoptaw, S. (2023). Provider Implicit Bias in Prescribing HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) to People Who Inject Drugs. Journal of general internal medicine, 38(13), 2928–2935.

4Sep

Dvora Joseph Davey, MPH, PhD

Dr. Dvora Joseph Davey’s research focuses on how best to prevent and treat HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in peri-conception, pregnant women and couples. She has expertise in study design and use of epidemiological methods to inform interventions aimed at reducing the burden of HIV and related diseases on women, children, and families. Most recently, she is examining the combination of behavioral and biomedical approaches to HIV prevention among vulnerable populations. Dr. Joseph Davey is currently an Associate Professor (In Residence) in the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Geffen School of Medicine and in the Department of Epidemiology at the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA. She is based in Cape Town, South Africa where she holds an Honorary Associate Professor Position at the University of Cape Town, South Africa School of Public Health’s Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She is the PI of several NIH funded clinical trial and implementation science studies to evaluate how best to integrate PrEP and STI care into antenatal and postpartum care. She has been involved in research in Southern Africa since 2003 where she has developed and evaluated donor-funded epidemiological studies to inform effective, culturally relevant interventions aimed at reducing the burden of HIV and related diseases on women, children, and families. Prior to joining the faculty at UCLA, Dr. Joseph Davey was a Country Director and Technical Director for an NGO implementing HIV prevention and treatment programs in Mozambique. Dr. Joseph Davey completed her PhD in Epidemiology at UCLA and her MPH from Columbia University in Population and Family Health.

Contact: djosephdavey@mednet.ucla.edu

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Joseph Davey DL, Mvududu R, Mashele N, Bheemraj K, Khadka N, Johnson LF, Dean SS, Gorbach P, Bekker LG, Coates TJ, Myer L. Initiation and continued use of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis among pregnant and postpartum women in South Africa (PrEP-PP): a demonstration cohort study. Lancet HIV. 2024 Nov;11(11):e746-e755. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3018(24)00240-6. PMID: 39477557.

2. Joseph Davey DL, Bekker LG, Bukusi EA, Chi BH, Delany-Moretlwe S, Goga A, Lyerly AD, Mgodi NM, Mugo N, Myer L, Noguchi LM, Stranix-Chibanda L, Slack C, Pintye J. Where are the pregnant and breastfeeding women in new pre-exposure prophylaxis trials? The imperative to overcome the evidence gap. Lancet HIV. 2022 Mar;9(3):e214-e222. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3018(21)00280-0. Epub 2022 Jan 25. PMID: 35090604; PMCID: PMC9178651.

3. de Voux A, Nyemba DC, Silliman M, Mashele N, Mvududu R, Myer L, Joseph Davey D. Point-of-care testing for sexually transmitted infections and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among pregnant women in South Africa, 2021-2022: randomised controlled trial. Sex Transm Infect. 2024 Feb 19;100(2):77-83. doi: 10.1136/sextrans-2023-055975. PMID: 38124133; PMCID: PMC11106734.

Last updated: 12/2/2024