Karen Johnson
University of Georgia, GA·Public Health & Epidemiology
HIV prevention tools work only if the people at highest risk can actually reach them. In the U.S.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Social Science
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
HIV prevention
pre-exposure prophylaxis
PrEP
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2031
What they work on
- Test in a randomized controlled trial whether E-WORTH South increases PrEP uptake and reduces condomless vaginal and anal sex acts at 6 months among 230 women aged 18–65 under non-carceral correctional supervision in two Alabama counties.
- Evaluate secondary outcomes at 6 and 12 months, including substance use reduction, persistence on injectable PrEP (cabotegravir), HIV and STI testing, healthcare engagement and trust in providers.
- Assess the Implementation Facilitation strategy using the RE-AIM and CFIR frameworks to identify site-level predictors of implementation success and test whether facilitation reduces differences between high- and low-capacity sites.
- Conduct an economic evaluation with microcosting and budget impact analysis to estimate what delivering E-WORTH South would cost supervision programs considering real-world adoption.
More about the research
South, Black women are diagnosed with HIV at thirteen times the rate of their counterparts elsewhere, and women under non-carceral correctional supervision, such as probation, parole or mandatory drug stays, face overlapping risks. In Alabama, this group makes up about 30% of the supervised population and 54% of those in drug court programs, though women are 13.8% of the state's female population only in part. Formative work with this population found that 37.5% reported survival sex, half reported condomless sex with partners of unknown HIV status, all were aware of biomedical prevention yet none had a trusted provider, and all used substances to cope with past adversity. This project tests whether an adapted prevention program can increase use of preventive medication and reduce sexual risk in this group.
Why it matters
Women under probation, parole or drug court supervision who use substances have high HIV risk but often lack a trusted provider or transportation to care. If E-WORTH South increases PrEP uptake and reduces condomless sex, it could offer a package that correctional supervision and drug court programs across the Deep South could adopt. Cost and budget impact data would show whether scaling is affordable; each HIV case prevented is estimated to save about $420,000 in lifetime treatment costs.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Hansel Tookes
University of Miami, FL·Public Health & Epidemiology
Determine whether the Comprehensive-TeleHealth-concieRge model increases engagement in HIV prevention compared with offsite referral plus peer navigation, in a randomized trial of 350 people who inject drugs recruited at a low barrier clinic in Miami.
Lisa Eaton
University of Connecticut, CT·Public Health & Epidemiology
Enroll 500 HIV-negative Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) who test positive for substance use, and give evidence-based counseling to help them access PrEP, a daily HIV-prevention medicine.
Rachel Solnick
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Develop the TIPPED protocol, which uses routine post-discharge callbacks about STI results to offer HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), together with an implementation strategy shaped by stakeholder input.
The school
University of Georgia: 27 labs on PI Pages, $628M a year on research, 598 research doctorates a year.
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