Mentoring researchers on drug abuse and HIV

说明（由申请人提供）：感染艾滋病毒和有感染艾滋病毒风险的吸毒者仍然很难获得保健服务，治疗效果也很差。此外，涉及处方阿片类药物的阿片类药物成瘾也急剧增加。Chinazo Cunningham博士在这项职业中期研究者奖的提案中提出，通过以下方式解决阿片类药物流行及其与艾滋病毒感染的交叉问题：1)成为药物滥用和艾滋病毒领域的国际公认的领导者，扩大她的研究范围，包括先进的研究方法（比较有效性研究[CER]方法和复杂的临床试验方法）；2)制定标准化和结构化的指导方法，指导初级研究人员开展与药物滥用和/或艾滋病毒感染相关的面向患者的研究；3)成为学术医学的有效领导者，确保制度基础设施有助于初级研究者获得成为独立研究者所需的技能。为了实现这些目标，Cunningham博士将参加课程和国家会议，指导阅读，并定期与相关领域的国家领导人会面。Cunningham博士将特别关注指导女性和少数族裔，这两个群体在学术医学和nih资助的研究中担任高级职位的人数不足。Cunningham博士将利用她现有的研究项目作为基础，她将提供指导并扩展她的研究技能，包括CER和复杂的临床试验方法。她的研究目的是：1)采用随机对照试验设计，测试16周禁欲强化应急管理干预对阿片类药物依赖的HIV感染者HIV病毒载量抑制的效果；2)研究戒断强化应急管理干预实现病毒载量抑制的机制。Cunningham博士未来的研究将包括在一个大型城市医疗中心建立一个全面的所有阿片类药物使用者的“实时”数据库。该数据库将用于检查与阿片类药物使用类型相关的健康结果，并制定和测试以阿片类药物使用为重点的干预措施。Cunningham博士的长期职业目标是，通过制定可缩小其在保健和健康方面差距的干预措施，改善感染艾滋病毒或有感染艾滋病毒风险的吸毒人群获得护理和健康结果的机会。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Drug users with and at-risk for HIV continue to have poor access to health care and poor treatment outcomes. In addition, opioid addiction involving prescription opioids has skyrocketed. In this proposal for a mid-career investigator award, Dr. Chinazo Cunningham proposes to address the opioid epidemic and its intersection with HIV infection by: 1) becoming an internationally recognized leader in the field of drug abuse and HIV, expanding her research to include advanced research methods (comparative effectiveness research [CER] methods and complex clinical trials methods); 2) developing a standardized and structured mentorship approach to mentor junior investigators to conduct patient-oriented research related to drug abuse and/or HIV infection; and 3) becoming an effective leader in academic medicine, ensuring that the institutional infrastructure facilitates junior investigators obtaining skills necessary to become independent investigators. To achieve these goals, Dr. Cunningham will participate in courses and national conferences, have directed readings, and regularly meet with national leaders in related fields. Dr. Cunningham will particularly focus on mentoring women and racial/ethnic minorities-two groups who are under-represented in senior positions in academic medicine and NIH-funded research. Dr. Cunningham will utilize her existing research program as a foundation for which she will provide mentoring and expand her research skills to include CER and complex clinical trials methods. The aims of her research are to: 1) test the efficacy of a 16-week abstinence-reinforcing contingency management intervention on HIV viral load suppression among opioid-dependent HIV-infected individuals, using a randomized controlled trial design; and 2) examine mechanisms of achieving viral load suppression with the abstinence-reinforcing contingency management intervention. Dr. Cunningham's future research will include the establishment of a comprehensive "live" database of all opioid users within a large urban medical center. This database will be used to examine health outcomes associated with types of opioid use and to develop and test interventions focused on opioid use. Dr. Cunningham's long-term career objective is to improve access to care and health outcomes among drug-abusing populations with or at-risk for HIV infection by developing interventions that can reduce their disparities in health care and health.