Dr. Judy Moskowitz is Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. Trained as a social/health psychologist, over the past 17 years, she has mentored more than two dozen trainees and developed a thriving program of multi- disciplinary collaborative research focused on positive affect in primary and secondary HIV prevention. Dr. Moskowitz is at an ideal stage of her career for a K24 grant. Support from this award would allow her to leverage her research program to develop the careers of patient oriented researchers. She is currently funded by NIMH to conduct a randomized trial of a positive affect regulation intervention for improving psychological and physical well being in people newly diagnosed with HIV. With the support of the K24 there are two overarching questions that would be addressed by an extension of the research program: (1) for whom does the intervention work and (2) in what delivery format? Co-morbid mood disorders are a significant concern for both primary and secondary HIV prevention. The research portion of this proposal outlines an extension of Dr. Moskowitz's research program that would allow her, together with a team of mentees, to begin to address important questions of safety, efficacy, feasibility and optimal delivery format of the positive affect intervention among people with mood disorders who are at high risk for HIV. The Overall Aims of this K24 proposal are to: (1) Provide expanded mentoring of early career clinicians and trainees in patient-oriented research in the specific areas of positive affect regulation interventions, mood disorders, HIV, and, more broadly, in integration of social and behavioral sciences in patient-oriented research; and (2) Extend the current research program to tailor the content and format of a positive affect regulation intervention to maximize feasibility, safety, and efficacy for people living with mood disorders and to maximize transportability to difficult-to-reach populations who are at elevated risk of HIV by translating the modified intervention to computer-delivered format. The ultimate goal for this program of research is to amplify the public health impact for individuals living with, or at risk for, HIV, by broadening applicability of the intervention and by encouraging widespread dissemination to home and community settings. The K24 would insure sufficient time to pursue this natural progression of Dr. Moskowitz's research while protecting time to devote to mentoring future clinician investigators in patient- oriented research. The plans for development, research, and mentoring were designed to complement each other and to create a synergistic effect of mentoring and research in a new direction of patient-oriented research. The proposed mentoring, research, and career development activities actively leverage existing infrastructure, resources, and training initiatives provided by NIH, including Dr. Moskowitz's active research program, the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at UCSF.
The short term goals of the proposed research are to tailor the content and format of the current positive affect intervention to maximize safety, feasibility, and applicability for people with mood disorders and to translate the modified intervention to computer- delivered format. The longer term objectives of this line of research are to maximize the public health impact of the positive affect intervention for people living with, or at risk for, HIV, by increasing the broad applicability of the intervention and by encouraging widespread dissemination to home and community settings. In this K24 proposal, I outline a systematic plan to make a lasting contribution to both primary and secondary HIV prevention by leveraging my current research program to facilitate the transition to independence for mentees.
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