Preventing HIV Infection—The NIH has awarded Viraj Patel, M.D., MPH a career development award of nearly $1 million over five years to develop tools for preventing HIV infection in young men of color who have sex with men (YMCSM). As this population has the highest rates of new HIV infections in the U.S., Dr. Patel plans to partner with YMCSM peer leaders to develop and test “Empowering with PrEP”--a novel behavioral intervention to prevent HIV by using social media to engage this vulnerable population to facilitate behavior change and uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). PrEP is an oral antiretroviral medication that significantly reduces the risk of HIV acquisition in uninfected individuals when taken daily. He hopes to increase PrEP use, reduce the incidence of HIV, and improve the health of this vulnerable population. Dr. Patel is assistant professor of medicine at Einstein and a member of the primary care/social internal medicine residency program at Montefiore.
Posted on: Wednesday, October 07, 2015