Current Projects

3T-Prevent: Expanding implementation of HIV and bacterial STI prevention

In the U.S., incidence rates of HIV and bacterial sexually transmitted infections (BSTIs) are disproportionately high among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men—referred to herein as sexual minority men (SMM)—compared to men who have sex with women only. Roughly 10% of HIV incidence is attributable to increased transmission due to untreated active chlamydia and gonorrhea infections among SMM, and 64% of syphilis cases occur among SMM.

Our team has studied women’s health and smoking behavior for over 30 years, and we have found that specific factors, including changes in sex hormone levels, psychosocial factors, and cigarette craving symptoms, are associated with smoking behavior and smoking relapse.

According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, about 290,000 adults in Minnesota need treatment for addiction. 

Contingency management (CM) is a behavioral intervention that involves incentivizing participants to target behaviors in a clinical setting, and when applied to the treatment of substance use disorders, it has demonstrated efficacy in reducing the number of urine toxicology screens positive for illicit substances and increased engagement in treatment programs. 

Gynecologic cancers can have devastating effects on the sexual and relationship health of those who survive it. 

Cervical cancer is a major health concern for Hmong-Americans, but we can help prevent it through HPV vaccinations. Online health tools (eHealth) can play a key role in encouraging people to get vaccinated. In 2018, with funding from a CDC/NCI grant, our team created a culturally relevant HPV website called Hmong Promoting Vaccines in both Hmong and English. This site helped 25 Hmong parent-child pairs learn through five educational modules. 

The Hmong community experiences disparities in diabetes outcomes in Minnesota. Data from Minnesota state registries (MN Community Measurement) identify that Hmong-speaking patients have the lowest rate of optimal diabetes care as defined by community standards (defined as achieving all of the following: A1c less than 8%, blood pressure lower than 140/90 mmHg, prescribed aspirin and statin medicines when indicated, and being tobacco free), at 34% in comparison to the statewide rate of 43.6%, and experience a subsequent increased risk of death from diabetes. 

In this project, we are enrolling pregnant and postpartum women with either a recent history of smoking and a desire to remain abstinent after childbirth, or who are currently smoking and motivated to quit smoking. Participants are assigned to a control group or a group that receives a 12-week course of exogenous progesterone during the postpartum period. We anticipate that higher levels of progesterone will be associated with smoking abstinence. 

The NatureUplift study is a two-arm pilot randomized trial designed to evaluate the effects of a nature-based curriculum with a hiking component on moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity, mental health outcomes, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure among African American parent-child dyads.

In this study, we iteratively developed a limited interaction, person-centered, and theory-based mHealth intervention to support sexual wellbeing, HIV testing, and PrEP uptake tailored to YSMM who could benefit from PrEP in partnership with a youth advisory board. The “OnPOINT” (Online Prevention Opportunities for Individuals using Nationwide Tips) website optimized for mobile phone use included multimodal content aligned with information-motivation-behavioral skills constructs and an embedded PrEP resource locator.

A healthful diet during early childhood is important for healthy growth and development and contributes to the prevention of chronic diseases.

The overall purpose of this study is to evaluate if there are any differences based on race or ethnicity in the frequency/rate of urine drug screen (UDS) ordered for patients who are admitted for labor and delivery (L&D). 

This training program uses a health equity lens to address a broad spectrum of weight-related problems across critical periods of the life course and ensures that future scientists are trained in both observational and intervention research and in translating research into action.

Hookah or shisha smoking is prevalent among Somali Americans in Minnesota and is used by many parents in the home.

The Isbaar Project (PI: Rebekah Pratt; Rachel Winer)

TIPS - Tailoring injectable PrEP sustainability (PI: Steven A. John, PhD, MPH)

HIV incidence is unacceptable with the availability of highly effective, evidenced-based methods of treatment and prevention. Biomedical HIV prevention has extended beyond pill-based strategies to now include long-acting injectable HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (LAI-PrEP) via cabotegravir administered by intramuscular injection in the gluteus muscle every 8 weeks. It is heralded as a “game-changer,” but the implementation of LAI-PrEP is unjustifiably suboptimal. LAI-PrEP has high consumer demand, yet few providers are currently prescribing cabotegravir for LAI-PrEP. 

The proposed project aims to use facilitation to guide the implementation of an HPV self-sampling initiative across four primary care clinics, using the Stakeholder and Equity Data-Driven Implementation (SEDDI) approach.

This is a population based survey to explore unmet survivorship needs and experiences of ovarian cancer survivors across the United States.