CIRA Highlighted Projects and Initiatives

One of CIRA's core aims is to provide support to innovative HIV/AIDS-related projects led by our investigators and their research partners. The following projects represent some examples of CIRA scientists' commitment to reducing persisting inequalities in HIV response and access to prevention, treatment, and care services. They also recognize CIRA affiliates' diverse knowledge, skills, and scopes of research that are necessary to address the intersections of socioecological drivers of the HIV epidemic (e.g., stigma, racism, forced displacement, neighborhood factors), substance use, mental health, and HIV.

• Meeting challenges and taking action: CIRA's multi-faceted community
  In January 2022, CIRA published a summary of recent activities and accomplishments to support research development, implementation, and dissemination; community-engaged partnerships; training future scientists and diverse scholars; and expanding global research efforts.
• 'No wrong door': improving care for people with addiction
  David Fiellin, Professor at Yale School of Medicine, Program Director of Yale's Program in Addiction Medicine, and the former director of CIRA’s Community and Research Implementation (CRI) Core and Clinical and Health Services Research (CHSR) Core discusses improving care for individuals with unhealthy substance use and addiction.
• Dreamer Girls Project is a dream-come-true for YSPH professor
  Ijeoma Opara, Assistant Professor at Yale School of Public Health, and a member of CIRA CRI Core describes her commitment and initiatives to create a healthy support network for Black teenage girls.
• New NIDA R01 to implement and evaluate the use of telehealth for PrEP among individuals with substance use disorders
  Jaimie Meyer, Associate Professor at Yale School of Medicine and a member of CIRA CHSR Core was awarded a new grant to improve the use of PrEP and treatment for opioid use disorder for justice-involved women in New Haven, CT and Birmingham, AL.
• How a virtual environment can produce cardiovascular health gains in real life
  S. Raquel Ramos, Associate Professor at Yale School of Nursing and a member of CIRA CHSR Core is conducting a study to explore the use of virtual environment in cardiovascular disease prevention education to address a healthy equity gap.
• Harm reduction vending machines pitched in Connecticut
  Frederick L. Altice, Professor at Yale Schools of Medicine and Public Health and his team pitched the use of vending machines that would dispense clean syringes, safe injection kits, and overdose reversal medication in the community.
• HIV/AIDS in humanitarian settings
  Kaveh Khoshnood, Associate Professor at Yale School of Public Health, and co-chair of CIRA's HIV/AIDS in humanitarian crises program describes his research and the impact of humanitarian crises on HIV/AIDS and other public health issues.