CDC Continues to Fund Pichon's HIV Research

Research focuses on rapid testing and link to treatment and prevention among vulnerable populations in Tennessee

Dr. Latrice C. Pichon, associate professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences of the School of Public Health, Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, has received a continuation of funding for Year 3 for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded, sub-award grant through Vanderbilt University Medical Center (PI: Pettit), for her project “Implementation of Rapid HIV Testing and Linkage to HIV Treatment or Prevention Among Vulnerable Populations in Tennessee,” amounting to $107,624 for her contribution on the Rapid ART Core Project to facilitate stigma reduction strategies. Pichon and her graduate assistant, Cris Valdebenito, look forward to continuing to work with Memphis community members and partner organizations. 

The Rapid ART Core project is a 5-year grant that applies principles of community based participatory research to design, implement, and evaluate a multi-faceted and locally customized rapid Antiretroviral therapy (ART), or Preexposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) initiation model, between high volume HIV testing sites and HIV treatment/prevention sites in Memphis, Tennessee. The project is in its third year and includes the development of contextually relevant strategies for ART/PrEP initiation, followed by the implementation and evaluation of rapid HIV testing and linkage to ART. 

Pichon works with HIV testing and care and prevention sites at the Shelby County Health Department, Regional One Adult Special Care Clinic, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare and Christ Community Health Services in Memphis, TN. Additionally, Pichon regularly engages with the project’s Community Advisory Board (CAB), who are represented by community experts including people newly tested for HIV, newly diagnosed with HIV, and PrEP users as well as staff of HIV testing and treatment/prevention centers. 

For more information on this research, contact Pichon at lcpichon@memphis.edu.