# Ending HIV: Bringing Integrated Prevention and Treatment Services to People Who Use Drugs Where They Live

> **NIH NIH DP1** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $167,421

## Abstract

Project Abstract:
The United States (U.S.) Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) plan’s primary goal is to reduce the number of new
HIV infections by 90% by 2030, but this will not happen unless we develop ways to BRING the evidenced-
based services to persons who use drugs (PWUD). Overdose deaths are dramatically increasing in the US,
and fentanyl and stimulants are fueling new HIV epidemics. My career and my passion revolve around
integration of treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) and other substance use disorders with HIV treatment
and prevention. Through over 20 years of direct clinical care as an infectious disease and addiction medicine
physician combined with substantial clinical research expertise involving PWUD living with and at risk of HIV, I
know the blind spots in the EHE plan and I can fill them in with this pioneer award. My pioneering award
vision is to: 1) train persons who live in the communities affected by high levels of overdose to be community
health workers (CHWs) to provide the HIV testing and rapid diagnosis of OUD; 2) create mobile hubs that are
pharmacies and clinics on wheels that can be deployed to immediately dispense pre-exposure prophylaxis
(PrEP), antiretroviral therapy (ART), and medication treatment for OUD (MOUD) anywhere; 3) develop rapidly
deployable mobile rapid response teams (the mobile spokes) comprised of the CHWs and pharmacists with 24
hour access to online clinicians that deploy out from the mobile hubs to where the CHWs identify to bring the
medications (PrEP/ART based on the rapid HIV testing results, and MOUD to people who have a diagnosis of
OUD) to where people ‘live’; and 4) collaborate with researchers, including modelers, to prioritize where
outbreaks of HIV are most likely to occur and provide a collaboration hub for others working in the fields of HIV
and substance use disorders to help inform this proposed care model. Through this award, I will also ensure
that the mobile rapid response teams continue to follow people and help them retain on the medications and
address competing needs to eliminate barriers to accessing services. Thus, the overall idea in this pioneer
award is providing low barrier services at multiple access points in line with the EHE plans where we would be
BRINGING the testing and treatment plans (MOUD, PrEP/ART) to PWUD and RETAINING them via non-
traditional methods where THEY LIVE. Through using trained persons who LIVE in the communities (CHWs)
with shared living experiences of their community members who use drugs and are at risk or living with HIV,
we can provide the testing and diagnosis services combined with pharmacists to dispense the medications in
real-time to people who typically do not have access to our normal clinical or research venues including
women, justice-involved persons, immigrants, the uninsured, and underrepresented minorities. I have the
experience, the passion, the work ethic and the collaborative team to help end HIV in PWUD through this
pioneer a...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11068077
- **Project number:** 3DP1DA056106-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** SANDRA Ann SPRINGER
- **Activity code:** DP1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $167,421
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-06-15 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11068077

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11068077, Ending HIV: Bringing Integrated Prevention and Treatment Services to People Who Use Drugs Where They Live (3DP1DA056106-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11068077. Licensed CC0.

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