Nicole Kelly
University of California-San Diego, CA·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career
Long-acting injectable (LAI) medicines can treat both HIV and opioid use disorder (OUD) with an occasional shot instead of daily pills. They lower the burden of taking medication, help people stay on treatment, and promote HIV viral suppression, meaning the virus is kept at very low levels.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Social Science
- Topics
opioid use disorder
substance use disorders
long-acting injectables
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2031
What they work on
- Evaluate how North Carolina's Medicaid expansion affected use of long-acting injectable HIV therapy (LAI-ART) and opioid use disorder medication (LAI-MOUD) among people with both conditions, using quasi-experimental policy evaluation methods.
- Quantitatively identify who is and is not receiving long-acting injectables in North Carolina before and after Medicaid expansion, to define gaps in how the policy has been put into practice.
- Qualitatively assess what clinics need to give HIV and opioid use disorder injections at the same visit, comparing North Carolina (Medicaid expansion) with Florida (no expansion).
- Combine the policy and clinic findings to develop and assess implementation blueprints with actionable guidance for integrating long-acting injectable delivery in North Carolina and Florida.
More about the research
Yet few people in the United States receive them, possibly because health policy and clinical systems are fragmented. Two changes might help people living with both HIV and OUD. One is expanding Medicaid, the public health insurance program. The other is giving the HIV and OUD injections at the same clinic visit. This project asks whether and how such policy- and clinic-level changes could widen access, as part of a mentored career award that combines implementation science (the study of how proven treatments get into routine care) with non-partisan policy evaluation.
Why it matters
Many people with both HIV and opioid use disorder are not receiving long-acting injectable treatments that could help them stay on therapy and keep HIV suppressed. Evidence on how Medicaid expansion and same-visit delivery affect access could guide state policymakers and clinics. Practical blueprints could help health systems in states with and without Medicaid expansion deliver these treatments, and future new HIV and substance use therapies, more widely.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Shabbar Ranapurwala
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Public Health & Epidemiology
Examine racial inequities in Medicaid enrollment and in post-release access to MOUD and mental health care among formerly incarcerated people, using North Carolina's 2023 Medicaid expansion and linked records from 2013–2025.
Steffani Bailey
Oregon Health & Science University, OR·Public Health & Epidemiology
Examine rates of opioid use disorder care — diagnosis, buprenorphine and other medication orders, retention on medication, and behavioral health visits — before, during, and after telehealth expansion, using nearly a decade of OCHIN electronic health record data from community health centers in 35 states.
Barbara Andraka-Christou
University of Central Florida, FL·Public Health & Epidemiology
Build a public, year-by-year database of state statutes, regulations and executive orders (2014–2024) meant to promote medications for opioid use disorder after ED overdose visits, using expert-guided searches of NexisUni legal software.
The school
University of California-San Diego: 84 labs on PI Pages, $1.9B a year on research, 637 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.