Development of a UCSF-Gladstone CFAR Health Disparities Core
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: The Disparities Core will complement the existing five Scientific and Development Cores within the UCSF-Gladstone CFAR, an NIH-funded interdisciplinary center dedicated to fostering the intersection of basic, clinical, and epidemiological HIV research at UCSF and affiliated institutions. The overall mission of the Core is to support, direct and advise the research of UCSF and affiliated institution investigators working to reduce the many disparities amongst vulnerable, at-risk, LGBTQ, minority and people of color populations in testing, treatment, and care for HIV-positive individuals and communities in the Bay Area. The Core will do so by soliciting, evaluating, funding and advising research projects that address a particular disparity and specific community in concert with community-based organizations and departments of public health. Regular advisement will be solicited of a Community Advisory Board comprised of individuals active in the Bay Area HIV/AIDS communities, as well as from partnering community-based agencies that work directly with the populations and clients, for whom the Core aims to have the most impact. The Core will host educational seminars, workshops, and conferences open to investigators and the community alike. Principal Investigator and CFAR Co-Director Paul Volberding, MD, and Core Director Marguerita Lightfoot, PhD, will provide exceptional institutional leadership, with decades of HIV research, clinical care, and community involvement between them. Project 1: Youth who are living with HIV (18-25 years old) have poorer health than HIV positive adults. There are many reasons for this including a lack of youth friendly health care settings. In addition some youth may not be involved in their health care or taking HIV medications regularly because of their substance use. We are proposing a study to determine if using technology (e.g. videoconferencing or text messaging) to provide health care and counseling will result in better and more welcoming health care services for youth living with HIV. We will also examine whether videoconferencing or text messaging is a useful method to address and decrease substance use for youth living with HIV. We will involve youth and the clinic and support staff that provides services to them in this study. If this study is acceptable to youth and their providers it could be expanded for further studies and ultimately may be used as a way to offer clinical care to youth living with HIV. Project 2: The House Ball Community (HBC), made up of houses and the elaborate balls they perform in, exists in a number of cities across the United States, including the Los Angeles and Bay Area metropolitan areas in California. As a cultural phenomenon occurring in urban communities across the U.S., the HBC represents an innovative mechanism through which to promote regular HIV testing, linkage to, and engagement in care for African American Gay Bisexual and Transgender (AAGBT) youth, a population that suffers disproportionately high rates of HIV. This research team proposes to develop and conduct a preliminary test of an intervention for AAGBT youth who are involved in the Bay Area HBC. By eliciting content for an intervention that would mobilize existing social networks in the HBC, and designing an app to engage AAGBT youth more effectively, we aim to increase regular testing for HIV-negative youth, and increase immediate linkage and engagement in care for those who are HIV-positive.