Professor
University of Miami
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Miami, Florida
I am a clinical-health psychologist with expertise in developing and testing behavioral interventions to optimize HIV/AIDS prevention efforts with individuals who engage in problematic patterns of stimulant use. My clinical research program has focuses extensively on boosting and extending the effectiveness of contingency management (CM) for HIV/AIDS prevention with sexual minority men who use stimulants. One of these trials supported the efficacy of a positive affect intervention delivered during CM for achieving long-term reductions in self-reported stimulant use and sustained viral suppression in sexual minority men who use methamphetamine. Currently, I am leading four NIH-funded trials of behavioral interventions to optimize the benefits of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and HIV treatment as prevention (TasP) in sexual minority men who use stimulants. My bio-behavioral research examines whether and how stimulants alter biological processes relevant to HIV acquisition and HIV pathogenesis in sexual minority men. In this line of work, my team was among the first to examine the associations of psychosocial factors and stimulant use with alterations in rectal immune function relevant to HIV acquisition as well as biological processes relevant to HIV pathogenesis. I am currently leading two NIH-funded bio-behavioral projects examining methamphetamine-associated alterations in rectal cytokines in sexual minority men without HIV and the microbiome-gut-brain axis in depressed people with HIV.
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Friday, November 4, 2022
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM