Golin to lead NIH grant aiming to test and treat inmates with HIV

Dr. Carol Golin

Carol Golin, MD, has received a five-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to study effective ways to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS among inmates in the criminal justice system. Golin, associate professor of health behavior and health education in UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and of medicine in the UNC School of Medicine, is the study’s co-principal investigator.

Each year, an estimated one in seven individuals infected with HIV passes through a correctional facility, suggesting that a disproportionate number of people in the criminal justice system are infected with the virus.

“Seek, Test, and Treat: Addressing HIV in the Criminal Justice System” represents NIH’s largest research initiative to date to aggressively identify and treat HIV-positive inmates, parolees and probationers and to help them continue care when they return to their communities. Nearly $50 million dollars in grants over a five-year period are expected to be distributed as part of the initiative.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers comprise one of 12 scientific teams in more than a dozen states that will receive NIH grants for this purpose. The grants are awarded primarily through NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse, with additional support from the National Institute of Mental Health and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Recent research has demonstrated that treatment with antiretroviral therapy makes HIV less infectious and that identifying and offering treatment to all medically eligible HIV-positive individuals can slow the spread of the virus. The new grants will apply this strategy to the criminal justice system, where the population has a relatively high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and often has poor access to treatment outside the system.

The research project, conducted in collaboration with Texas Christian University, employs a multidimensional intervention which spans the time before and after release and is designed to boost treatment adherence and keep inmates engaged in the health care system. UNC will study a “test, treat, link, and retain” strategy among 525 prison inmates, pre- and post-release in North Carolina and Texas.

“A critical component after release will be helping participants get linked into their HIV care right away,” Golin said. “We know from studies in other settings that multifaceted programs help people stay on antiretroviral medicines better than single-pronged approaches.”

The investigators will use multimedia materials, including videos and face-to-face counseling with study participants while they are still in prison. “After they are released, we will employ cell phone technologies to reinforce the intervention,” Golin said.

David Wohl, MD, associate professor of medicine in UNC School of Medicine, is also co-principal investigator of the study.

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, 919-966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.