Achieving successful treatment outcomes among adolescents and pregnant/postpartum women living with HIV in Kenya

Project Summary Overview: This K24 mid-career investigator award in patient-oriented research and mentorship proposes to expand the research and mentorship activities of a highly qualified candidate, Dr. Lisa Abuogi, focused on improving HIV and health outcomes for people living with HIV in high burden, low resource settings. Candidate: Dr. Abuogi is a physician-scientist trained in pediatrics, global health, and HIV and an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Denver (UCD). She is also a Senior Investigator in the UCD Center for Global Health and Medical Director of the Children's Hospital HIV Prevention Program. Dr. Abuogi conducts patient-oriented research to address disparities in HIV health outcomes, including retention in care and viral suppression, among pregnant women, adolescents and children living with HIV. She has a sustained track record of extramural funding and demonstrated dedication to successful mentorship of new investigators. Mentoring Plan: Dr. Abuogi has a demonstrated commitment to highly successful mentorship of a diverse group of mentees. She has the ability to recruit multidisciplinary mentees from a wide range of research collaborations and networks, a structured approach to ensure high quality mentorship, and a commitment to build the next generation of investigators committed to research aimed addressing knowledge gaps and at improving HIV outcomes. Research Plan: Dr. Abuogi's proposed research activities address NIH's Office of AIDS Research Priority Research agenda in Cross Cutting research that includes implementation and behavioral sciences, health disparities, and training and capacity building. Leveraging her ongoing NIH-funded research evaluating behavioral interventions to improve HIV care outcomes for both pregnant/postpartum and on 1, viral women and adolescents young adults living with HIV (AYA), Dr. Abuogi proposes innovative new patient-oriented research focused the sustainable impact f interventions aimed a improving engagement in care and viral suppression. In Aim Dr. Abuogi will examine the effect of short-term peer navigation on long-term sustained re-engagement and suppression in AYA on antiretroviral treatment after navigation is discontinued. In Aim 2, o t determine the impact of behavioral interventions on care transitions in these populations. Finally, in Aim 3, she will explore the perceptions of patients and LHW on how the interventions support treatment success as well as unintended consequences of peer-led interventions to inform iterative adaptations of these interventions. proposed evidence-based provide The newly research described in this application will expand our understanding of the sustainable impact of interventions aimed at improving treatment outcomes for vulnerable populations with HIV and research opportunities for new mentees.