Mentoring alcohol use intervention research in HIV health care settings

Unhealthy alcohol use plays a major role in risk for and exacerbation of HIV/AIDS. There is an urgent need to implement effective alcohol intervention strategies, train new researchers, and improve health care for all patients in order to end the HIV epidemic. Addressing these critical issues, this K24 renewal application proposes to extend the mentoring program in patient-oriented research (POR) of Dr. Derek Satre, Professor in the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Adjunct Investigator in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research (DOR). Dr. Satre’s research program focuses on alcohol interventions in the context of care for HIV and other chronic diseases, including serious comorbidities such other substance use, mental health problems, and medical conditions. In the current K24 cycle, Dr. Satre has met and exceeded the aims of the award and been highly productive: he has published 75 papers (36 with mentees as first author) and obtained two R01s in HIV and alcohol research based in health systems. His mentees are primarily clinicians, and they have been very successful in their research careers, including two K awards with Dr. Satre as primary mentor, and many other mentees have received NIH grants and faculty positions. This renewal will enhance Dr. Satre’s ability to develop, assess, and implement effective alcohol interventions with people with HIV (PWH). His mentoring will continue to be based within alcohol and HIV health settings and outstanding training programs across UCSF and DOR. New in this renewal, he additionally proposes to develop an innovative alcohol POR mentoring program within the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) Visiting Professor Program. Mentees will leverage the infrastructure and resources of Dr. Satre’s ongoing studies, which include large alcohol and HIV data sets and multidisciplinary research collaborators. Dr. Satre proposes to further enhance his clinical POR mentoring by obtaining training in implementation science and social determinants of health. The proposed research to be conducted with mentees extends his recently funded R01 to examine alcohol risk profiles, access to alcohol treatment and HIV clinical outcomes, to inform alcohol intervention implementation. In summary, this K24 renewal will leverage Dr. Satre’s research mentoring program with extensive infrastructure at UCSF and DOR to support a program of expanded POR mentoring in alcohol and HIV intervention research, to advance the goal of implementing effective interventions to reduce the burden of alcohol-related problems.