Highly Adaptive Epidemic Control Strategies For HIV Prevention in Drug Users
Avenir Grant: 1DP2DA040236-01
Dr. Marshall was awarded an Avenir Grant Award by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in 2015. Our team uses the grant to support our exploratory research surrounding HIV/AIDS prevention programs. The grant was awarded to Dr. Marshall as an early stage investigator proposing innovative studies using our agent-based model: TITAN. The Avenir grant supplements our other funding and is directed towards our experimental projects.
This section of our research analyzes combinations of HIV prevention programs and how they should be prioritized to reduce and eventually eliminate HIV transmission among high-risk populations. Agent-based modeling is a novel approach we use to study how HIV prevention strategies should be tailored to specific epidemics and contexts. The results of this project will guide the implementation of highly effective HIV prevention strategies that are more efficient, better targeted, and more responsive to the needs of high-risk communities.
Enhancing Population Impact of HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Implementation
R21 Grant: 5R21MH109360-02
Our multidisciplinary team uses data from a statewide PrEP implementation project (and other population-based sources) to model and evaluate the program’s impact on HIV transmission at the community level. We use our agent-based model, TITAN, to evaluate a real-world, statewide PrEP implementation program. Our primary goal is to determine the demographic and behavioral characteristics of men who have sex with men (MSM) who, if prescribed PrEP, would produce the largest reduction in community HIV incidence. Our project aims to maximize the clinical and public health benefits of PrEP for at-risk men.
Characterizing the HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Care Continuum for African American and Hispanic/Latino Men Who Have Sex with Men
R01 Grant: 1R01MH114657-01
This study will follow a large, real-world cohort of MSM enrolled across three diverse United States settings to characterize rates of adherence and retention in PrEP care for young White, African American and Hispanic/Latino MSM, reasons for suboptimal adherence and retention in care, and the impact of different interventions to enhance adherence and retention in PrEP care outcomes on HIV incidence. We will conduct individual interviews with MSM who are prescribed PrEP but sub-optimally adherent or drop out of PrEP care. Using data from our longitudinal cohort, we will perform microsimulations using TITAN, our agent-based model, to evaluate the impact of PrEP adherence and retention in care on HIV incidence in the three diverse US settings. We will then predict the impact of potential interventions on PrEP care continuum outcomes.