HIV and Hepatitis C Virus Screening and Referral to Treatment

Principal Investigators: Dr. Douglas AE White and Dr. Erik Anderson


Funder: Gilead FOCUS

Dr. Doug White and Dr. Erik Anderson are expanding their highly successful ED-based HIV and HCV screening program across all Alameda Health System campuses, including the EDs at Highland, San Leandro, and Alameda Hospitals. Integrated into the new system-wide electronic health record, EPIC, this program is the largest provider of blood-based viral screening in Alameda County and diagnoses more patients with new HIV and HCV infection than any other health care venue. Current research projects include a pilot project evaluating the role of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for ED patients at risk of acquiring HIV; a multi-centered collaboration to further investigate rapid test diagnostics in the ED setting; capacity building projects to improve linkage to care for newly-diagnosed HIV positive patients in San Francisco and Oakland; and participation in a National Institutes of Health clinical trial evaluating HCV screening outcomes.


HIV-TESTED

Site Principal Investigator: Dr. Douglas AE White

Funder: NIH 5R01AI106057-04

The Levitt Center is a subawardee on this multi-center trial of 3 different strategies to increase the effectiveness of ED-based screening for HIV, a novel use of the emergency care system pioneered by Dr. White and others more than 10 years ago.  Because the ED is a key source of care for people at high risk for HIV, the ED has become a rich source for discovering and linking to care people infected with HIV but undiagnosed. Dr. White has spent the intervening years investigating the optimal approach for ED-based screening, and this grant, in collaboration with Denver Health as the primary grantee for HIV-TESTED as well as Johns Hopkins University and the University of Cincinnati, is a big step forward in such an effort.


HEPATITIS C SCREENING AND REFERRAL TO TREATMENT

Principal Investigator: Dr. Douglas AE White

Funder: Gilead FOCUS

After establishing the utility of ED-based HIV screening over the past decade with more than a dozen peer-reviewed papers, Dr. White and his team have broadened the scope of the ED-based public health screening program to include the identification of hepatitis C. Once an essentially untreatable infection, Hep C is now curable, and the underlying idea of this work is to get more patients with Hep C on the path to a cure.  Like HIV, Hep C is found among many patients whose social circumstances lead them to seek episodic emergency care, leaving detection of their disease up to the emergency care system. The work of Dr. White and his team has already led to advances in the efficient use of emergency resources to uncover undiagnosed hepatitis C.