A new project co-led by Brown researchers is looking to tackle the recent rise in substance abuse, HIV, hepatitis C and overdose in New England.
Awarded $12 million by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in August, the project hopes to identify the factors that contribute to the current increase in substance use in the region and affect individuals’ ability to access HIV, HCV and overdose treatment. The study will also investigate the effects of relevant policy changes and interventions in different populations with the hopes of determining future research directions.
The project makes up just one branch of a larger multi-site study currently being conducted in six different regions across the United States. The New England branch of the study is the first and only research initiative of its kind in the region, according to Brandon Marshall, professor of epidemiology and co-principal investigator.
The NIDA grant notes that high levels of opioid use and early introduction of toxic drug supply contaminants have led to coinciding surges of HIV, HCV and overdose among people who use drugs in New England.
Since both HIV and HCV can spread through blood, individuals who use drugs intravenously are at a higher risk for infection, as sharing needles or other drug equipment increases the possibility of contact with infected blood.
Out of the study's 1,200 person sample, researchers hopes to enroll 180 people living with HIV, which is 15% of the total participants.
“Our goal, really, is to understand their experiences with HIV care,” Marshall told The Herald. “For people who are at risk, we’re interested in learning about their access to prevention services.”
Researchers hope to follow participants for up to five years, tracking their experiences with behavioral assessments while testing them for communicable diseases.
The study brings together three principal investigators — Marshall, Katie Biello, a professor of behavioral and social science and chair of epidemiology, and Angela Bazzi, a professor of public health at the University of California, San Diego — who will all contribute to a different component of the study.
Biello said the specialization allows the research team to follow a large number of people in the New England area. The study will also focus on smaller suburban and rural communities to shed light on the overdose crisis outside of larger urban centers, according to Marshall.
“In New England, we have pretty good access to services as a whole,” Biello said in an interview with The Herald. “Good medical systems tend to be in primary cities … so we want to look at differences in access to care outside of main metropolitan cities.”
Marshall added that the research team is partnering with “health care and harm reduction organizations” in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Vermont. “In Rhode Island, we will be working primarily with the Community Care Alliance.”
Community Care Alliance is a nonprofit organization that works to empower people experiencing economic insecurity, mental illness, addiction, housing issues and trauma-related concerns, according to their website.
These community partners are “one of the main spokes on the wheel of this study,” Biello said.
“We will have staff embedded in community organizations in the three states that we’re working in who will be working very closely with the … program staff to recruit and enroll,” she added.
The project is “still in the startup phase,” Marshall said, noting that his team is currently working on developing the surveys that will be given to the patients.
“We’re also creating what we’re calling a Community Leadership Council, which will be people working on the front lines to get their feedback on what kinds of questions we should be asking,” he added.
