AMETHST

American Transformative HIV Study

This LITE-2 study responds to a resurgent epidemic of methamphetamine (meth) use in sexual minority men (SMM) by:

• identifying multi-level and bio-behavioral determinants of amplified HIV seroconversion risk in meth-using SMM; and
• testing the effectiveness of telehealth motivational enhancement interventions for optimizing for optimizing entry or re-entry of SMM who use meth into the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) care continuum.

Co-led by Dr. Christian Grov (CUNY ISPH) and Dr. Adam Carrico (University of Miami), the American Transformative HIV Study (AMETHST) launched recruitment in summer 2022. This study will include a new cohort of 5,000 SMM, 3000 of whom report recent methamphetamine use at enrollment. Half of participants will be men of color. Participants will perform at-home HIV testing as well as provide rectal swabs for sexually transmitted infections and indicators of rectal immune health. In future years, we will test the efficacy of a contingency management + motivational interviewing intervention to enhance PrEP uptake and reduce methamphetamine use.

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