The impact of housing on HIV status

Medical College of Wisconsin

Office of Public Affairs       

8701 Watertown Plank Road 

Milwaukee, WI  53226 

Fax (414) 955-6166

For more information, contact:

Maureen Mack  (mmack@mcw.edu)

Director of Media Relations

Cellular: 414-750-5266

Office: 414-955-4744

The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) has received a five-year, $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse to study different housing models for HIV-positive, chronically homeless individuals.

Julia Dickson-Gomez, Ph.D.; and Steven Pinkerton, Ph.D., both professors of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at MCW and researchers at the Center for AIDS Intervention Research (CAIR), are co-primary investigators of the grant. They will partner with the Center for Health and Housing in Chicago.

There is a clear link between homelessness and HIV, particularly among individuals with serious mental illness and substance use disorders. Supportive housing, which is permanent, subsidized housing with supportive services, has been offered to this population.  There are many different supportive housing programs, but no studies have compared the relative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of these different models in terms of reducing sexual and injection risk, substance use, adherence to treatment, or housing satisfaction and stability.

In this study, the investigators will use comparative effectiveness research to compare the existing interventions to ascertain which interventions are most successful, and for which populations in specific contexts.

The Center for AIDS Intervention Research at MCW is one of five HIV prevention research centers in the United States funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. CAIR’s missions are to conceptualize, conduct, and scientifically evaluate the effectiveness of new intervention strategies to prevent HIV infection in populations vulnerable to the disease. CAIR’s research also develops improved strategies to promote health and alleviate adverse mental health consequences among persons living with HIV. CAIR is committed to disseminating its findings both to the scientific community and to public health providers so they benefit from Center research.

About the Medical College of Wisconsin

The Medical College of Wisconsin is the state’s only private medical school and health sciences graduate school.  Founded in 1893, it is dedicated to leadership and excellence in education, patient care, research and community engagement.  More than 1,200 students are enrolled in the Medical College’s medical school and graduate school programs in Milwaukee.  New regional medical education campuses are scheduled to open in Green Bay in 2015, and in Central Wisconsin in 2016, with each recruiting initial classes of 15-20 students.  A major national research center, MCW is the largest research institution in the Milwaukee metro area and second largest in Wisconsin.  In FY 2012-13, faculty received approximately $160 million in external support for research, teaching, training and related purposes, of which approximately $144 million is for research.  This total includes highly competitive research and training awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Annually, College faculty direct or collaborate on more than 2,000 research studies, including clinical trials. Additionally, more than 1,350 physicians provide care in virtually every specialty of medicine for more than 425,000 patients annually.