loading
loading
NIH grant 1K24MD021876-01: Mentoring investigators to improve health outcomes among people with HIV and HCV
Institute: {'code': 'MD', 'abbreviation': 'NIMHD', 'name': 'National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities', 'admin_org_id': '12500036', 'admin_funding_url': ''}. PI: Matthew Akiyama. Award: $192305.
Start: 2026-09-18T00:00:00.
ABSTRACT
The overall goal for this K24 proposal is to increase engagement of people impacted by the legal system in
interventions to improve outcomes for infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV), and to
translate the evidence into real-world implementation and effective public health policy. The prevalence of HIV
and HCV among people impacted by the legal system in the U.S. is far higher than surrounding communities.
In response, efforts to end the HIV epidemic and eliminate HCV emphasize people impacted by the legal
system as a key population; however, engagement in interventions to improve outcomes remains challenging.
Decentralized care models such telehealth platforms, mobile outreach, and peer-led programs, play a critical
role in supporting people impacted by the legal system by reducing structural barriers to engagement and
aligning services with the realities of reentry. These models promote continuity of care across the transition
from incarceration to the community, enable rapid initiation or reinitiation of services, and allow care to be
tailored to individual needs and preferences; however, optimal strategies for implementing decentralized care
in community-based settings are unknown. Given the overall lack of evidence about decentralized care models
and their implementation and the urgency of addressing intersecting HIV and HCV epidemics among people
impacted by the legal system, it is imperative to expand the capacity of investigators to conduct patientoriented
research in this area. I am a clinician-investigator who, for the last decade, has been treating HIV and
HCV and focused on improving outcomes for people impacted by the legal system. I am also an educator with
a strong mentoring track record and exceptional institutional resources to support mentees. This K24 midcareer
investigator award will help to expand capacity of investigators in the field by: 1) providing outstanding
mentorship focused on improving HIV- and HCV-related outcomes among people impacted by the legal
system, 2) expanding my research in implementation science methodologies to optimize translating evidence
into practice, and 3) advancing my development as a leader in translating evidence into guidelines and health
policy. My strong existing research program focused on community-engaged strategies for infectious disease
management among people impacted by the legal system, along with exceptional mentors and institutional
resources, will provide a platform for mentoring and expanding my skills. Using my existing study cohorts and
new primary data collection including qualitative interviews and discrete choice experiments, we propose the
following new research aims: 1) to examine barriers and facilitators to engagement in decentralized care
models in a reentry-focused CBO setting, 2) to identify patient preferences for different decentralized care
models. All proposed research will be conducted with mentees and will provide ample opportunities for mentee
development in diverse research methods, responsible conduct of research, and preparing manuscripts and
grant applications. Findings from the research will inform future interventions and guidelines. Overall, the
proposed plans for mentoring, career development, and resedarch will expand capacity to address epidemics
of HIV and HCV among people impacted by the legal system.document fetched 2026-09-27 02:45