Four New Publications from DC CFAR Investigator, Sarah Calabrese, PhD


February 21, 2019

Dr. Sarah Calabrese Photo
Sarah Calabrese, PhD, a DC CFAR early-stage investigator and pilot award recipient, has recently published four articles highlighting how provider biases may interfere with patient access to the latest HIV knowledge and prevention resources. The first publication in The Lancet HIV, emphasizes the importance of providers universally educating their patients living with HIV that undectable = untransmittable (U=U), i.e., that stable viral suppression prevents the sexual transmission of HIV. The second publication, co-authored with Dr. Manya Magnus in AIDS Patient Care and STDs, presents findings of qualitative interviews with 18 early-adopting PrEP providers, illuminating the various forms of interpersonal and structural stigma operating within the healthcare system that contribute to inequitable access to PrEP. Provider biases related to sexual values and fears of risk compensation are the focus of the third publication, a commentary which Dr. Calabrese co-authored in the New England Journal of Medicine. Lastly, in the fourth publication in Clinical Infectious Diseases, Dr. Calabrese and her colleagues delineate several clinical consideration and caveats surrounding the CDC eligibility criteria for PrEP, offering an alternative set of criteria that may prove less vulnerable to social biases. This work was supported by a K01 award from the National Institute of Mental Health.