The National Institute on Drug Abuse has awarded $5 million to researchers at UCLA to develop a resource and data center for millions of pieces of research, lab samples, statistics and other data aimed at boosting research into the effects of substance abuse on HIV/AIDS.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse has awarded UCLA a $7 million grant to investigate the links between substance abuse and HIV among Latino and African-American men who have sex with men.
Researchers will examine how non-injected drugs and alcohol can directly interact with the virus and other infectious diseases, to damage these men's health. Enrollment in the study begins in January.
A UCLA-led study provides the first scientific evidence that brick and mortar pharmacies in Northern Mexican tourist towns are selling counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine. These pills are sold mainly to US tourists, and are often passed off as controlled substances such as Oxycodone, Percocet, and Adderall.
The pills are available without a prescription – potentially adding to the already high number of overdose deaths stemming from use of those potent drugs in Mexico and the US.
Dr. Dvora Joseph Davey is an infectious disease epidemiologist with over 20 years of experience in maternal and newborn health research and program evaluation. Dr. Joseph Davey is an Associate Professor (Adjunct) in the Department of Epidemiology and Division of Infectious Diseases in the Geffen School at UCLA. Based in South Africa, she is a Honorary Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
Center Affiliations
- Biobehavioral Assessment and Research Center
- UCLA Bixby Center to Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health Equity
- Center for Global and Immigrant Health
Education
- PhD, Epidemiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
- MPH, Population and Reproductive Health, Columbia University, New York, NY
Dr. Pamina M. Gorbach focuses on the biobehavioral epidemiology of infectious disease, especially how HIV transmission, acquisition and progression is affected by substance abuse. She is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and in the Division of Infectious Diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Gorbach's work in HIV prevention, treatment and care involves research in Los Angeles with long time partners the Los Angeles LGBT Center and the UCLA Vine Street Clinic she helped establish. Dr.
Education
- DrPH, University of North Carolina, North Chapel Hill, NC
- MHS, Bloomberg School of Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University
- BA, Brown University, Providence, RI
Dr. Gelberg is a family physician, health services researcher, and professor in UCLA’s Department of Family Medicine and Fielding School of Public Health and the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and associate director of the UCLA Primary Care Research Fellowship. Her current research focuses on clinical trials to reduce risky drug use and promote healthy lifestyle change in low income populations using leading behavior change methodologies. Over the past 2 decades, Dr.
Center Affiliations
Education
- MD, Preventive and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- MSPH, Health Services, University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA
- BA, Psychobiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
- Family Medicine Residency, Montefiore Hospital, Bronx, NY
I am a health services researcher with an abiding interest in the health and well-being of vulnerable populations. I am especially concerned with improving preventive medicine practice and the quality of health care for older adults.
Education
- PhD, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
- MA, Columbia University, New York City, NY
Current Academic Appointments. Dr. Matthew J. Mimiaga is tenured Full Professor and Vice Chair of Epidemiology at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA. He is Inaugural Director of the UCLA Center for LGBTQ+ Advocacy, Research & Health (C- LARAH) and affiliated Senior Research Scientist at The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health, Boston, MA.
Center Affiliations
Education & Training
- Post Doctoral Fellowship, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- ScD, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
- MPH, Boston University, Boston, MA
- MA, Brown University, Providence, RI
Dr. Jennifer Wagman earned her PhD in Reproductive, Perinatal and Women’s Health and her Master’s degree of Health Science in International Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and a Bioethics and Health Policy Certificate from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Her postdoctoral training, completed at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, was in alcohol and substance use, HIV and related infections. Since 2000, Dr.
Education
- PhD, Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
- MHS, International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
- BA, Animal Behavior, Bucknell University, Lewisberg, PA
Dr. William McCarthy has devoted most of his 30+ year career to intervention studies designed to encourage members of special populations to adhere to federal nutrition and physical activity guidelines (African American adult women, low-income middle school students, low-income patients of community health centers) and to be smoke-free (WIC participants, aerospace workers, Korean and South Asian immigrants, residents of homeless shelters).
Center Affiliations
Education
- PhD, Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT
- MA, Psychology, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL