HIV, Education, and Addiction Training (HEAT) Program - This is a career mentoring award to support Dr. Eaton with dedicated time to support a sustainable, structured approach to mentoring for herself, her trainees, and early career faculty mentees. Ellen Eaton, MD, MSPH, is an infectious disease trained clinician-scientist with expertise developing and testing interventions to reduce infectious consequences of substance use disorders (SUD), with an emphasis on HIV in persons who use drugs. Her mentoring portfolio focuses on rural, Southern trainees in science and medicine. Mentees will work alongside Dr. Eaton on newly proposed research in the K24 and ongoing NIH-funded studies in hospitals, clinics and rural communities in Alabama and other rural, Southern states. Dr. Eaton proposes mentoring aims to (1) develop Deep South physician scientists who conduct patient-oriented research at the nexus of SUD and HIV and (2) establish a HIV Education and Addiction Training (HEAT) Program that leverages the complementary expertise of the UAB Center for Addiction and Pain Prevention Intervention and UAB Center for AIDS Research. This proposal will accelerate progress by building Substance Use Disorder research capacity and expertise. Dr. Eaton proposes novel research aims using new skills obtained through this career development award. She has assembled a team of advisors who bring complementary expertise in implementation science, qualitative research, telemedicine, health outcomes, and community engagement. The research will use implementation strategies to identify appropriate use of telemedicine to extend substance use treatment. She proposes a rapid analysis approach to analyze in-depth interviews and focus group discussions conducted with key stakeholders and end-users across Alabama. Research activities will explore feasibility and acceptability of a telemedicine intervention with the goal to inform a future implementation trial. There is a shortage of clinician researchers who study the intersection of infection and addiction, and this shortage is especially pronounced in rural and poor states like AL where substance use has outpaced research on optimal healthcare delivery. This award will contribute to the growth of skilled researchers, while advancing the science of healthcare delivery for persons with substance use disorders in Alabama.
