With the career goal of becoming an independent investigator, Dr. Uriel Felsen describes a mentored research project and specific career development plan which will prepare him to study the implementation of HIV treatment and prevention strategies for underserved populations. Despite a growing number of biomedical, behavioral, and structural interventions shown to be efficacious in preventing HIV transmission, important questions remain as to how to optimally implement such interventions in order to translate these advances into real-world outcomes, particularly among underserved populations that remain at greatest risk. HIV testing is a critical component of HIV treatment and prevention, and strategies for HIV testing in the Emergency Department (ED) setting can potentially impact the evolution of the domestic epidemic. This proposal aims to: 1) Identify barriers to and facilitators of implementing an expanded HIV testing strategy in the ED; 2) Use these findings to adapt an existing ED-based HIV testing strategy into a new strategy; 3) Test the process- and prevention-related outcomes of this new strategy; and 4) Develop a generalizable Implementation Science tool for implementing and evaluating an ED-based HIV testing strategy. To accomplish these aims, Dr. Felsen will pursue training in Implementation Science, qualitative methods, development of health services interventions, and the design and analysis of quasi-experimental studies. With completion of these activities, along with intensive mentorship, Dr. Felsen will be prepared to disseminate and test his tool for implementing and evaluating an ED-based HIV testing strategy across multiples sites for his career goal of becoming an independent investigator.

Public Health Relevance

Given the ongoing barriers to the effective implementation of expanded HIV testing in Emergency Departments (EDs), our project seeks to improve the process- and prevention-related outcomes associated with expanded HIV testing strategies in EDs. For this intervention, we will apply a structured, reproducible, Implementation Science-guided process to adapt an existing HIV testing strategy in the ED into a new strategy focused on improving process-related (e.g. proportion of patients offered HIV testing) and prevention-related (e.g. proportion of previously untested patients with an HIV test performed) outcomes. Ultimately, this intervention has the potential to improve rates of identifying persons with previously undiagnosed HIV, an outcome that is both lifesaving for the individual and contributes to the prevention of new infections. This study's findings will inform the development of a generalizable tool for implementing and evaluating an ED-based testing strategy that can be disseminated and tested across multiple sites.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
Project #
5K23MH106386-06
Application #
9771536
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1)
Program Officer
Gordon, Christopher M
Project Start
2015-09-21
Project End
2020-08-31
Budget Start
2019-09-01
Budget End
2020-08-31
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Department
Type
DUNS #
081266487
City
Bronx
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10461
Lankowski, Alexander J; Bien-Gund, Cedric H; Patel, Viraj V et al. (2018) PrEP in the Real World: Predictors of 6-Month Retention in a Diverse Urban Cohort. AIDS Behav :
Torian, Lucia V; Felsen, Uriel R; Xia, Qiang et al. (2018) Undiagnosed HIV and HCV Infection in a New York City Emergency Department, 2015. Am J Public Health 108:652-658
Cossarini, Francesca; Hanna, David B; Ginsberg, Mindy S et al. (2018) Missed Opportunities for HIV Prevention: Individuals Who HIV Seroconverted Despite Accessing Healthcare. AIDS Behav 22:3519-3524
Ross, Jonathan; Felsen, Uriel R; Cunningham, Chinazo O et al. (2017) Outcomes Along the HIV Care Continuum Among Undocumented Immigrants in Clinical Care. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 33:1038-1044
Ross, Jonathan; Hanna, David B; Felsen, Uriel R et al. (2017) Emerging from the database shadows: characterizing undocumented immigrants in a large cohort of HIV-infected persons. AIDS Care 29:1491-1498
Felsen, Uriel R; Cunningham, Chinazo O; Heo, Moonseong et al. (2017) Expanded HIV Testing Strategy Leveraging the Electronic Medical Record Uncovers Undiagnosed Infection Among Hospitalized Patients. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 75:27-34
Bien, Cedric H; Patel, Viraj V; Blackstock, Oni J et al. (2017) Reaching Key Populations: PrEP Uptake in an Urban Health Care System in the Bronx, New York. AIDS Behav 21:1309-1314
Blackstock, Oni J; Patel, Viraj V; Felsen, Uriel et al. (2017) Pre-exposure prophylaxis prescribing and retention in care among heterosexual women at a community-based comprehensive sexual health clinic. AIDS Care 29:866-869
Jou, Erin; Gligich, Oleg; Chan, Alvita C Y et al. (2016) Viral co-infections and paraproteins in HIV: effect on development of hematological malignancies. Ann Hematol 95:575-80
Schackman, Bruce R; Eggman, Ashley A; Leff, Jared A et al. (2016) Costs of Expanded Rapid HIV Testing in Four Emergency Departments. Public Health Rep 131 Suppl 1:71-81

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