Press releases

Landmark NIH funding extended for CUNY’s bold HIV/AIDS prevention research initiative

Posted on August 15, 2019August 15, 2019 by ISPH CUNY

For immediate release: August 15, 2019 The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has extended funding through 2022 for Together 5000 (T5K), a nationwide HIV prevention study led by Dr. Christian Grov of the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) and the CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health (ISPH). Since the initial two-year award, Dr. Grov’s research team has established a cohort of over 8,000 HIV-negative gay and bisexual men who are not on PrEP and at high risk for HIV acquisition, representing all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Guam. P...

Do neurocysticercosis-related seizures lead to epilepsy and what is the long-term impact of treatment?

Posted on August 5, 2019August 7, 2019 by ISPH CUNY

August 5, 2019 Neurocysticercosis, an infection of the brain with pork tapeworm larvae, is highly endemic in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia, and increasingly common in developed countries like the U.S. due to immigration. The larvae form cysts in the brain, which can cause a variety of neurological symptoms, seizures being the most common. Previous literature has suggested that neurocysticercosis is an important cause of epilepsy in developing countries where it is endemic. The standard treatment for neurocysticercosis is antiparasitic medication, such as albendazole, although...

What motivates gay and bisexual men to participate in PrEP-related research?

Posted on July 23, 2019August 7, 2019 by ISPH CUNY

July 23, 2019 Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been shown to be effective at preventing HIV among key populations like gay and bisexual men (GBM), but there remains a need to engage GBM in behavioral and clinical research to monitor factors such as adherence to PrEP and retention in PrEP-related quarterly medical appointments. In order to inform recruitment efforts for future PrEP research, recent MPH alum Alexa D’Angelo led a study on the factors motivating GBM to participate in a PrEP behavioral study. The results were published in the International Journal of Sexual Health. ...

Depression associated with risky sexual behavior among truck drivers in Kenya

Posted on July 22, 2019August 7, 2019 by ISPH CUNY

July 22, 2019 Truck drivers in sub-Saharan Africa are particularly at risk for both mental health disorders, including depression, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, due to the stressful, transient lifestyle associated with their occupation. In a study published Thursday in the journal PeerJ, CUNY SPH doctoral student Matthew Romo and Associate Professor Elizabeth Kelvin assessed the prevalence of depression and explored its association with sexual risk behavior in a sample of long-distance truck drivers seeking services at two roadside wellness clin...

Associate Professor Levi Waldron awarded NIH grant to study the role of the microbiome in cancer

Posted on July 15, 2019July 15, 2019 by ISPH CUNY

CUNY SPH Associate Professor Levi Waldron was awarded a U01 collaborative agreement by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health to identify roles of the human microbiome in cancer development and treatment. The human microbiome is implicated in the development and response to treatment of some cancers, including infectious agents estimated to be responsible for around 18 percent of the global cancer burden. It has only recently become possible to profile the entire microbial community of human specimens through metagenomic sequencing. However, initial a...

Study shows widespread global implementation of WHO’s “Treat All” recommendation for people living with HIV

Posted on July 12, 2019July 12, 2019 by ISPH CUNY

For immediate release: July 12, 2019 A new study published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society shows that the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2015 recommendation for immediate treatment of all people living with HIV has become the standard of care across HIV clinics in countries around the world. While most countries have adopted the WHO’s “Treat All” recommendation, the extent to which these guidelines had been translated into practice at HIV clinics around the world was previously unknown. Based on a survey conducted at more than 200 HIV care and treatment sites ...

Large study of “Treat All” policies for HIV in sub-Saharan Africa finds major improvements in rapid uptake of treatment

Posted on June 10, 2019June 10, 2019 by ISPH CUNY

For immediate release June 10, 2019 A new study published in PLoS Medicine found that the adoption of the World Health Organization’s 2015 “Treat All” recommendation was followed by large increases in rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in six sub-Saharan African countries. The study found significant increases in rapid ART initiation immediately after national introduction of Treat All policies in Burundi, Kenya, Malawi and Rwanda, with 12.5 to 34.5 percentage point increases in the percentage of patients who initiated ART within 30 days of enrolling into HIV care. ...

CUNY SPH team joins large consortium in major effort to reduce opioid overdose deaths in New York

Posted on May 14, 2019May 14, 2019 by ISPH CUNY

For immediate release: May 14, 2019. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has awarded $86 million to a consortium of researchers and implementers convened by Columbia University’s School of Social Work to address the epidemic of opioid overdose deaths in New York State. The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) is a key partner of the New York consortium which will focus on reducing opioid overdose mortality across 16 communities in New York State by 40 percent in the next four years. The project’s aims take a whole-community approach to foster systems ...

Immediate HIV treatment initiation has increased but is not yet universal in NYC

Posted on May 2, 2019May 7, 2019 by ISPH CUNY

May 2, 2019 A new study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases found that immediate treatment initiation for HIV infection has improved since local and federal guidelines began to recommend universal treatment for all persons diagnosed with HIV, regardless of their disease stage. Despite notable improvements, nearly 25 percent of New York City residents with a new HIV diagnosis in 2015 had not initiated treatment within six months of their diagnosis. Another key study finding was that only 35 percent of people diagnosed with HIV had less advanced HIV disease. The study’s autho...

How health care facility characteristics affect HIV viral suppression among NYC patients

Posted on April 2, 2019April 18, 2019 by ISPH CUNY

April 2, 2019 Health care facility characteristics such as the type of clinical setting, the travel distance from the patient’s home, the support services offered, and physician experience have been shown to influence health outcomes among persons with HIV, but few studies have explored how these factors influence HIV viral suppression among patients. To test the association of these characteristics with the achievement and maintenance of HIV suppression among newly-diagnosed New York City residents, CUNY SPH doctoral alumna Ellen Wiewel—now the director of research and evaluation at th...