# The INTERACT ( Using DesIgN jusTicE to impRove cArCeral health ouTcomes) Center

> **NIH NIH U24** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2024 · $510,403

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
HIV is over-represented in substance using and criminal legal involved populations. The syndemic risks for
incarceration and HIV risk and acquisition are strongly correlated as a result of both structural and individual-
level factors. While effective HIV prevention strategies exist, they are rarely adapted or deployed with people in
jails, prisons, during re-entry, or on community supervision. And, when they are, equal collaboration with the
community to develop and implement intervention strategies is often missing. Improving meaningful
representation of individuals with expertise based on lived experience (“context expertise”), can improve the
effectiveness, relevance, validity, and acceptability of health research and service delivery systems. The overall
goal of the INTERACT (Using DesIgN jusTicE to impRove cArCeral health ouTcomes) Center is to improve
representation and engagement of individuals with context expertise in the criminal legal system, HIV and
substance use in research to illuminate key barriers to service access and utilization and identify and test
potential solutions that are human-centered and scalable. Our team possesses complementary content and
context expertise related to the criminal legal system, and is multidisciplinary (i.e., reflecting training in public
health, human-centered design, education, nursing, criminology, social work, community psychology, and
cultural anthropology) and multi-tiered (i.e., representing multiple academic roles). As such, we are uniquely
positioned to successfully execute all components of this resource center. The specific aims for the INTERACT
Center are to: 1) Recruit and engage a Community Advisory Board reflecting context expertise in HIV, substance
use, and criminal legal involvement/history; 2) Use human-centered design principles to document experiences
with HIV and substance use treatment services and identify strategies to optimize care delivery for future testing;
3) Conduct > two pilot studies, each co-led by a Community Advisory Board member, to explore the feasibility
and acceptability of strategies to improve HIV and substance use outcomes; 4) Evaluate the efficacy of the
INTERACT Center in supporting the meaningful inclusion of context experts in the development and
implementation of HIV and substance use-related research. Successful completion of the proposed aims has the
potential to increase trust in health science and improve the availability and desirability of HIV and substance use
interventions for a multiply marginalized group.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10908831
- **Project number:** 1U24DA060618-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein
- **Activity code:** U24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $510,403
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-05-15 → 2029-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10908831

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10908831, The INTERACT ( Using DesIgN jusTicE to impRove cArCeral health ouTcomes) Center (1U24DA060618-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10908831. Licensed CC0.

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