# Social determinants of health for predicting risks of HCV infection and HCV/HIV co-infection

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · 2024 · $83,880

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
This is an application for a diversity supplement award for Dr. Pilar Hernandez-Con, a doctoral student in the
Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes & Policy, College of Pharmacy, at University of Florida (UF). Dr.
Hernandez-Con aims to establish herself as a health services researcher specializing in studying the syndemic
of hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and substance use disorders (SUDs). This
diversity supplement award aims to provide Dr. Hernandez-Con with the necessary support to: (1) enhance her
understanding and expertise of social determinants of health (SDoH) influencing the HCV/HIV syndemic among
individuals with SUDs; (2) gain training in natural language processing (NLP) methodologies to extract clinically
meaningful data from unstructured clinical notes; and (3) improve her grant writing skills leading to the
submission of a K99/R00 grant before the end of the support period. To achieve these goals, Dr. Hernandez-
Con will collaborate with an interdisciplinary mentoring team, including primary mentor, Dr. Haesuk Park, the
principal investigator of the parent grant and an expert in HCV and HIV infections among vulnerable populations,
along with co-mentors Dr. Jingchuan Serena Guo, an epidemiologist specializing in SDoH and EHR; Dr. Amie
Goodin, an expert in health policy and SUDs; and Dr. Yonghui Wu, a computer scientist with expertise in NLP
applied to EHR data. Dr. Robert L. Cook, a primary care physician and researcher specializing in HIV and SUDs,
will serve as her career development advisor.
The opioid crisis in the United States has resulted in a sharp increase in HCV and HIV infections among
individuals with SUD, yet a significant proportion remain unaware of their infections, contributing to further
transmission. Dr. Hernandez-Con’s proposed study will focus on identifying important SDoH affecting the
HCV/HIV/SUD syndemic. This proposal has two specific aims: (1) developing and validating a polysocial risk
score (PsRS) utilizing NLP methods and UF Health EHR data to comprehensively assess SDoH that influence
HCV infection and HCV/HIV co-infection; and (2) developing and validating an algorithm to predict the risk of
HCV infection and HCV/HIV co-infection, comparing its performance to algorithms with and without PsRS
alongside demographic and clinical characteristics. The insights gained from this study will inform effective
implementation strategies for healthcare providers, researchers, and policy makers. They will also serve as the
foundation for future research to better understand the role of SDoH in the HCV/HIV syndemic and health
outcomes in vulnerable populations particularly individuals with SUDs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11075538
- **Project number:** 3R01DA057886-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
- **Principal Investigator:** Haesuk Park
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $83,880
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2023-09-15 → 2025-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11075538

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11075538, Social determinants of health for predicting risks of HCV infection and HCV/HIV co-infection (3R01DA057886-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-04 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11075538. Licensed CC0.

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