Wednesday, March 24th, 2021 6:30 - 8:00 PM In this conversation, we discussed stigmas about HIV and Mental Health and how people continue to strive. Panelists: Alecia Tramel - Chair of CHARM CAB, Executive Director / Founder, Positive People Network, Inc. Tajma Darlington - Co-Chair of CHARM CAB, HIV Prevention and Testing Manager, Pridelines Myka Osorio - CHARM CAB Member, PrEP Navigator, Care Resource Moderator: Sannisha Dale, PhD, EdM - Assistant Professor, Director, Mental Health Disparities Core, CHARM, Psychology Department, University of Miami Please find the flyer here.
Presenter: Dr. Nicholas Metheny, School of Nursing and Health Studies February 17, 2021 About the Presentation: Despite strong evidence that the disproportionate burden of HIV in Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) is due to a combination of structural, syndemic, and cultural factors, there is little research on mechanisms of action between social stressors and HIV risk. Using biomarker data and sophisticated quantitative analyses, this study aims to understand how social stressors are associated with HIV susceptibility and pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake in Latino MSM.
The Miami Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), the HIV/AIDS and Emerging Infectious Diseases Institute (HEIDI) and the Center for HIV and Research in Mental Health (CHARM) have partnered to host the 15th Annual HIV Symposium: The Path to Ending the HIV Epidemic. February 10 & 11, 2021 Speakers:
Carl W. Dieffenbach, PhD
Julia Marcus, PhD
Brian Mustanski, PhD
Lynne Mofenson, MD
Emma Spencer, PhD
Dennis Burton, PhD
Presenters: Mariano Kanamori, PhD Assistant Professor University of Miami, Stephen Fallon, PhD Executive Director Latinos Salud February 3, 2021
Topics Covered:
CBPR’s Definition, Design Principles and Challenges
Developing Partnerships
Incorporating Social Network Analysis in CBPR
Finding The Right Community Partner
Examples of Outcomes of Community Engagements
Presenter: Dr. Raymond R. Balise, Department of Public Health Sciences, Biostatistics February 3, 2021
REDCap is a popular, user-friendly, web-based data collection tool that can be used to collect sensitive research data. This presentation will show the process of setting up a REDCap database used for a clinical trial aimed at assessing the utility of an iPhone/Android mobile app designed to support medication adherence in HIV+ men who have sex with men and who use stimulants (cocaine and/or methamphetamine).
The completed project includes a screening survey, study e-consent, randomization into study groups considering race, and tracking of specimen collection over a year. Attendees will see how REDCap can be used to do data validation, control the display of data with action tags and feed data between study instruments/questionnaires with piping. New features in REDCap 10, such as field embedding, to make good-looking questionnaires, will be covered.
Intended audience is people who have some REDCap experience, but novices who would like to learn more about REDCap's capabilities are welcome. Attendees must register in advance and must watch the tutorial videos (1.5 hour length) before the seminar.
Tutorial videos and information are available here.
Presenters: Renessa Williams, PhD, RN - Postdoctoral Fellow Deportment of Surgery Chika Christle Chuku, MPH - Pre-doctoral Fellow Deportment of Public Health January 27, 2021 About the Presentation: Stimulant-using MSM (SUMSM) may have greater difficulties navigating the HIV care continuum as well as display substantially elevated viral load, amplified HIV transmission risk, and faster clinical HIV progression. Efforts are needed to understand how managing multiple stigmatized identities related to HIV status, substance use, race, and sexual minority status may further challenge HIV-related disparities. This proposed research aims to test an mHealth intervention targeting treatment adherence, substance use, and intersectional stigma among SUMSM.
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: Presenters:
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
Presenters: Dr. Erin Kobetz and Dr. Victoria Behar-Zusman August 11, 2020 Topics Covered:
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.