Past Events

For recordings of past events and webinars, please refer to CHARM's  channel.

• 2020 World AIDS Day and Ending the Epidemic in Miami Webinar

  Researchers from the Miami Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and the Center for HIV and Research in Mental Health (CHARM) present their ongoing NIH-funded HIV Implementation Science projects which, in collaboration with community stakeholders, aim to end Miami’s HIV epidemic. 

   

  Moderators:

  • Savita Pahwa, MD - Director, Miami Center for AIDS Research; Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
  • Steven Safren, PhD - Director, Center for HIV and Research in Mental Health; Professor, Department of Psychology

  Presenters:

  • Rosina Cianelli, PhD, MPH, RN - Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Health Studies
  • Sannisha Dale, PhD - Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
  • Susanne Doblecki-Lewis, MD, MSPH - Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Department of Medicine
  • Audrey Harkness, PhD - Research Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences
  • Mariano Kanamori, PhD - Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences
  • Allan Rodriguez, MD - Professor of Clinical Medicine, Department of Medicine

• World AIDS Day - Staying Focused: High Priority Areas for HIV/AIDS Prevention in the Era of COVID-19

  Presenters: Dr. Renessa Williams, Dr. Mariya Petrova, Leah Davis Ewart and Ariana Johnson (predoctoral students)

  December 1, 2020

  In celebration of World AIDS Day, the Department of Public Health Sciences hosted a symposium showcasing the ongoing work of its predoctoral and postdoctoral students.

  Research topics include: 

  • Barriers to PrEP uptake
  • Substance use patterns among sexual minority men living with HIV
  • Substance use and HIV disease management in the era of COVID-19
  • HIV-related stigma as a risk factor for unsuppressed viral load

   

• Building mCARES - mobile technology to Improve Adherence among Women with HIV

  Presenter: Dr. Lunthita Duthely

  November 11, 2020

  About the Presenter:

  Dr. Duthely's research focuses on improving health outcomes for minority women. Her research interests are in understanding the interplay between individual-level barriers, like HIV stigma, and facilitators, such as resiliency, to adherence to care among African American, Caribbean and Latina women living with HIV. This is foundational for a strengths-based approach to design, adapt and implement education and technology­based solutions to support adherence to care.

  About the Presentation:

  The evolution of the formative work for a multilingual, mHealth intervention to support women living with HIV will be presented. An overview of the study findings, to date, gaps in the literature regarding HIV mHealth interventions and ethical and practical considerations when designing applications for special populations will also be discussed.

   

• Building rapport in the virtual world

  Moderator: Dr. Victoria Behar-Zusman

  Panelists: Marisabel Canedo, Dr. Sannisha Dale, Maria Khalona, Jasmyn Sanders, Dr. Gira Ravelo, Dr. Patricia Rojas, Dr. Jose Colon-Burgos, Arnetta Phillips

  October 9, 2020

  In collaboration with Center for Latino Health Research Opportunities (CLaRO)

  For event recording, click here.

• Engaging the capacity of local comadronas in rural Guatemala: A tool for HIV prevention and maternal health

  Presenter: Dr. Victoria Orrego Dunleavy

  September 30, 2020

  About the Presenter:

  Dr. Victoria Orrego's expertise is in health communication with a focus on health promotion and evaluation. Dr. Orrego works to understand and alleviate health disparities among at risk populations such as Latinx and indigenous Mayans by developing innovative, community-based interventions.

  About the Presentation:

  SEPA (Salud/Health, Educaci6n /Education, Prevenci6n/Prevention, and Autocuidado/Self-Care), has been effective in reducing HIV risk behaviors among Hispanic women and can be utilized to address the socio-cultural factors that perpetuate HIV risk among indigenous Mayan women. This presentation will discuss the results of a pilot study focusing on culturally adapting SEPA content for the Mayan community and examining the feasibility and acceptability of the integration of SEPA into current comadrona (traditional birth attendant) training. Next steps to address the Covid-19 consequences will also be discussed.

• ¡HOLA, Amigos! Lowering Cardiometabolic Risk in older Latinos Living with HIV

  Presenter: Dr. Daniel Jimenez

  August 26, 2020

  About the Presenter:

  Dr. Jimenez is a clinical psychologist who has dedicated his career to identifying health disparities affecting the nation’s racial/ethnic minority older adults and developing innovative strategies to reduce, and ultimately eliminate these disparities.

  About the Presentation:

  The Happy Older Latinos are Active (HOLA) intervention is an innovative health promotion program that is uniquely tailored to meet the diverse needs and circumstances older Latinos living with HIV. This presentation will discuss the results of a pilot study focusing on lowering cardiometabolic risk and how it is being adapted to address the unintended consequences of COVID-19 prevention and mitigation strategies on older Latinos living with HIV.

• Seminar on Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Ethics

  Presenters: Dr. Erin Kobetz and Dr. Victoria Behar-Zusman

  August 11, 2020

  Topics Covered:

  • Overview of CBPR and local application
  • Experiences conducting CBPR in Little Haiti and other poorly served enclaves in the United States and abroad
  • Ethical issues in CBPR

• Solving the Challenges to Behavioral Research during the COVID-19 Pandemic

  Presenters: Dr. Maria Alcaide, Dr. Lunthita Duthely, Dr. Dainelys Garcia, Dr. Audrey Harkness, Dr. Daniel Jimenez, Dr. Steven Safren, Ms. Maria Tapia, Mr. Andres Vazquez, Dr. Denise Vidot, and Dr. Deborah Jones Weiss

  July 23, 2020

  Topics Covered:

  • Informed consent procedures and other IRB-related issues
  • Administering assessments (e.g., web-based, telephone, etc.)
  • Interventions (e.g., MHealth, telephone, etc.)
  • Specimen collection and safety
  • Compensation (e.g., gift cards, cash transfers, etc.)

• Expanding community virus screening programs and statewide virus elimination efforts

  Presenter: Dr. Emmanuel Thomas

  June 6, 2020

  About the Presenter:

  Dr. Thomas's research program is to develop integrated, multidisciplinary approaches for the study of virus driven diseases and to bridge clinical medicine and basic science with translation of fundamental knowledge to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of viral diseases and related cancers.

  About the Presentation:

  Having been raised in Miami-Dade county, Dr. Thomas has a strong commitment to improving the health of our local community. Through our community virus screening programs and statewide virus elimination efforts, we are identifying infected individuals and linking them to care. In addition, we are also facilitating the ability of uninsured patients to receive costly medications through patient assistance programs.

• Five Point Initiative: A Model for Meeting Miami's Black Communities Where They Are in Efforts to End the HIV Epidemic

  Presenter: Dr. Sannisha Dale

  May 13, 2020

  About the Presenter:

  Dr. Dale is the Founder and Director of the SHINE (Strengthening Health through INnovotion and Engagement) Research Program. Dr. Dale's primary research interests include investigating psychosocial (e.g.microoggressions, discrimination) and structural factors (e.g. poverty) that relate to HIV health disparities, developing interventions, and engaging community members and stakeholders in research.

  About the Presentation:

  The Five Point Initiative is (1) partnering with five venues in five Miami-Dade zip codes with the highest number of Black individuals living with HIV (2) collaborating with community health organizations funded by the CDC, HRSA, and/or SAMHSA and (3) hosting twenty five events in which community members complete a brief electronic survey in exchange for a service/voucher at a venue and are offered HIV /STI voluntary counseling and testing, and condoms.

• Developing a tailored strategy to increase the scale up and dissemination of HIV prevention and behavioral health services to Latino MSM

  Presenter: Dr. Audrey Harkness

  April 8, 2020

  About the Presenter:

  Dr. Harkness is a Research Assistant Professor in the University of Miami Department of Public Health Sciences. Her work focuses on HIV-prevention and treatment integrated with behavioral health, primarily among sexual and gender minority populations and Latino MSM.

  About the Presentation:

  This presentation will provide an overview of the presenter’s mixed methods work which identified barriers and facilitators to Latino MSM utilizing evidence-based HIV-prevention and behavioral health services, and plans to leverage these data to develop a tailored strategy to increase the scale up and dissemination of these services to Latino MSM in the Miami area. The presenter will be seeking feedback on next steps for this program of research. 

• FINISHING HIV: A Network-Based HIV Protection, Diagnosis, and Treatment Program for Latinos

  Presenter: Dr. Mariano Kanamori

  February 19, 2020

  About the Presenter:

  Dr. Kanamori is an epidemiologist with 26 years of experience designing, developing, implementing and evaluating HIV interventions for Latino communities, including Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) in Miami- Dade County (MDC). He is changing the paradigm for HIV prevention among Latinos through a spatially explicit social network-based model that incorporates geographic information systems and social network approaches.

  About the Presentation:

  Dr. Kanamori will present his NIH-funded project: FINISHING HIV, which uses a pharmacy network and a parks network to increase awareness and utilization of HIV protection, diagnosis, and treatment services among Latino MSM subgroups in MDC. Dr. Kanamori’s studies show that the HIV epidemic in MDC is driven by Latino MSM who identify as gay, those who identify as bisexual and those who identify as straight.

• Implementing a Telemedicine Test and Treat approach at the Miami IDEA Syringe Services Program

  Presenter: Dr. Hansel E. Tookes

  February 12th, 2020

  About the Presenter:

  Dr. Tookes is a public health physician with extensive experience in working with people living with HIV and people at high risk for acquiring HIV, including people who inject drugs (PWID).

  About the Presentation:

  PWID experience extensive barriers to engagement in HIV care. It is estimated that less than half of PWID living with HIV in the U.S. are virally suppressed. Test and Treat approaches are associated with viral suppression; however, more is needed when engaging PWID into HIV care. Telemedicine has been successful for direct patient consultation for HIV care. The progress on local implementation and plans for statewide expansion of the Telemedicine Test and Treat approach will be discussed.

• Introduction to Qualitative Research: What is it? When should you use qualitative research?

  Presenters: Dr. Sara Mijares St-George and Dr. Joseph De Santis

  December 6, 2019

  About the presentation:

  Data Collection - Developing a question guide; Participant sampling and sample size considerations; Types of data collection; Interview skills; Equipment, recording procedures; Transcription

• Developing Multi-Level Interventions to Address Suicidality in People Living with HIV who Use Substances

  Presenter: Dr. Adam Carrico

  November 20, 2019

  About the Presenter:

  Dr. Carrico is a clinical-health psychologist with expertise in developing and testing integrative interventions to optimize HIV/AIDS prevention efforts with individuals who engage in problematic patterns of alcohol or other substance use.

  About the Presentation:

  Suicidality is a prevalent comorbidity in people living with HIV (PLWH) who use substances. However, little is known about the predictors and consequences of suicidality in this population. This presentation will leverage findings from a study conducted by the NIDA Clinical Trials Network that enrolled PLWH who use substances from 11 hospitals in the U.S. Findings highlight the multi-level determinants of suicidality in PLWH and demonstrate that higher suicidality is independently associated with lower odds of viral suppression.

   

• Machine Learning: Who knows, who cares, why bother...

  Presenter: Dr. Raymond Balise

  November 20th, 2019

  About the Presenter:

  Dr. Balise is an award winning lecturer and the author of “Presenting Medical Statistics from Proposal to Publication” and more than a hundred peer reviewed publications and refereed presentations in topics including phonetics to obstetrics, dyspepsia to dyslexia and health disparity to brachytherapy. He is currently working on projects tackling HIV, substance abuse or health disparities.

  About the Presentation:

  This presentation is geared towards people who do not love math but who need to make the best possible predictions about patient outcomes and the effects of health policy changes. Attendees will be introduced to Machine Learning (ML) methods and shown why they make better predictions for patient outcomes when compared to other traditional methods. Examples include using ML to predict breast cancer based on images and predicting survival after catastrophic burns. The utility of traditional hypothesis testing methods and the importance of model validation will be discussed. These methods include k-Nearest Neighbors, Support Vector Machines, Decision Trees, Random Forests and Neural Networks.

• New directions for the Community-Based HIV Awareness for Minority Populations (CHAMP) Program

  Presenter: Sonjia Kenya, Ed.D., M.S., M.A.

  October 23, 2019

  About the Presenter:

  Dr. Kenya is an Associate Professor of General Medicine & Public Health at the University of Miami, and the Director of Community Health at the Weiss Institute for Health Equity at the Sylvester Cancer Center. She conducts various HIV research and service programs targeting high risk Black populations in Miami‐Dade County. Dr. Kenya currently leads one of the largest street‐based rapid HIV testing programs in the County.