Dr. Amico has actively contributed to the development and implementation of health promoting interventions for over a decade, with specific emphasis on HIV treatment and engagement in care and HIV prevention. In these areas, Dr. Amico has interest and experience in measurement, methodology, design, and analytic strategies used to characterize the influence of social and contextual variables on decision making and behavior. She has collaborated with a number of teams working within and outside of research networks to enhance delivery of adherence support and HIV prevention counseling, promote engagement in HIV care, and strengthen existing site- and team-level capacities to implement best counseling/engagement practices while maintaining fidelity to rigorous research protocols.

Areas of behavioral and social science expertise include:

• Domestic and International
• HIV-prevention (counseling and PrEP)
• Placebo controlled PrEP trials
• Linkage to care theoretical models, intervention, and measurement approaches
• Retention in care theoretical models, intervention and measurement approaches
• Antiretroviral adherence theoretical models, intervention and measurement approaches
• Protocol and procedures: development, manualization, training and implementation support for multisite trials
• Research design: Design, measurement and analytic approaches for social behavioral studies and sub-studies

Dr. Michele Andrasik works to address psychosocial and structural factors associated with HIV risk and STI disparities among marginalized communities in the US. Dr. Andrasik has a doctoral degree in Clinical Health Psychology from the University of Miami and is an expert in Community-Based Participatory Research and Qualitative methods. She is also Core Faculty in the Fred Hutch/UW Center for AIDS Research Socio-behavioral Prevention Research Core.

Areas of behavioral and social science expertise include:

• Community Based Participatory Research Approaches
• Qualitative Methods
• Behavioral Risk assessment theoretical models and measurement approaches
• Intimate Partner violence theoretical models, intervention and measurement approaches
• Cultural Responsiveness/Humility theoretical models and intervention

Dr. del Rio's research interests are on early diagnosis, access to care, adherence with antiretrovirals and combination prevention of HIV infection. He has worked for over a decade in hospitals and clinics with hard-to-reach populations including substance abuse users to improve outcomes of those infected with HIV and to prevent infection with those at risk. He is also interested in the translation of research findings into practice and policy. Dr. del Rio is also a practicing HIV clinician at a busy inner-city clinic.

Areas of behavioral and social science expertise include:

• HIV testing
• Studies of interventions such as health navigators and contingency management to increase linkage and retention in care
• Antiretroviral adherence/compliance
• Interventions with hard-to-reach populations such as substance abusers
• Increasing participation of minorities and underserved populations in clinical trials
• PrEP trials

Dr. Steven Safren is engaged in a variety of studies related to behavioral aspects of HIV prevention and treatment both domestically and internationally. He was one of the lead behavioral scientists in several network studies, particularly at their inception phase, including ACTG5175, HPTN052, and is protocol chair of HPTN063. Dr. Safren has successfully designed and tested key evidenced-based adherence interventions both for HIV ART, as well as PrEP (i.e. in the Gates-Funded ancillary adherence study Partners in Prevention; and two U.S. domestic studies with MSM).

Areas of behavioral and social science expertise include:

• Interventions to improve adherence to self-care and medications
• Cognitive behavioral therapy
• Assessing and decreasing the burden of mental health, substance use, and other syndemics as barriers to self-care
• Health behavior change for MSM
• Behavioral Medicine Interventions for health promotion
• Assessment of adherence
• Behavioral science research design in the context of biomedical trials related to HIV treatment and prevention

Dr. van der Straten is an expert in female-initiated HIV-prevention methods. Her research focuses on acceptability and adherence to new biomedical HIV-prevention methods and multipurpose technologies for contraception and HIV prevention. She has led or participated in the development and implementation of major research projects in Africa and the U.S., including clinical trials of diaphragm and gel, oral, and vagina Tenofovir based pre-exposure prophylaxis and vaginal rings. Dr. van der Straten has also led several end user acceptability research studies and adherence-related issues in the context of prevention trials.

Currently, she is working on a large multidisciplinary program to develop a biodegradable implant system for HIV-prevention and a multipurpose implant for HIV and contraception. 

Areas of expertise:

• Female-initiated HIV-prevention methods
• Adherence
• Qualitative methods\mixed method research
• Product development
• End user research
• MPT (multipurpose prevention technologies – specifically HIV and pregnancy prevention)