Mentoring Clinical Investigators in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy for HIV (Mentor-PATH)

Project Summary/Abstract Research on psychedelics, substance use (SU), and mental health (MH) has shown promising results in the treatment of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol use disorder, and smoking cessation. Psychedelics can promote the development of new neural pathways, which may lead to improved health outcomes. Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) involves the professionally supervised use of psychedelics as part of a psychotherapy program and offers a paradigm shift for more effective and safer options for SU and MH treatment. PAT could improve the lives of people with HIV (PWH) who experience SU or MH challenges at rates higher than the general population. These SU and MH challenges are strongly associated with lower medication adherence, reduced virologic suppression, disease progression, and high mortality among PWH. Treatment of SU and MH concerns can reverse adverse health effects, lead to improved clinical outcomes, and prevent onward HIV transmission. Therefore, parallel to the HIV treatment cascade, there is an urgency to address and achieve global treatment goals for SU and MH challenges. However, the low representation of minority groups among health researchers undermines the ability of public health interventions to address these health disparities. There is an urgent need for more diversity in the HIV research community, and building a pipeline of researchers from diverse backgrounds is critical to advancing science. In this K24, Dr. Parya Saberi proposes a plan to (1) provide mentorship to early career trainees from diverse backgrounds; (2) provide opportunities to develop her knowledge and skills in research related to SU, MH, PAT, and implementation science; and (3) provide preliminary data to inform subsequent patient-oriented research proposals by her and her mentees to address equity in SU or MH treatment and PAT among PWH. Therefore, Dr. Saberi’s mentoring goals include increasing the number of her mentees, enhancing her mentoring competencies, and providing a training program for mentees from diverse backgrounds to launch and support their careers. Mentees will leverage the infrastructure and resources of Dr. Saberi’s ongoing research and her collaborations with multidisciplinary researchers in the areas of HIV, SU, MH, PAT, and implementation science. The research aims of the proposed K24 are: (1) to assess the interests, concerns, motivators, and deterrents of using PAT among PWH experiencing moderate to severe SU or MH challenges and (2) to examine priorities for the research agenda and future clinical implementation of PAT among PWH experiencing SU or MH challenges. Therefore, funding from this K24 will allow Dr. Saberi to grow a structured program of training for researchers from diverse backgrounds and to conduct research that addresses the need for effective SU and MH interventions, enhanced scientific rigor in PAT research, and increased research to improve health equity for SU and MH treatment among PWH.