Monday, November 13, 2023
12–1 p.m. CT
Register on Zoom
Maria Pyra, PhD, MPH
Northwestern University
Jade Pagkas-Bather, MD
University of Chicago
Description:
In this Third Coast CFAR seminar, Maria Pyra, PhD, MPH, of Northwestern University, and Jade Pagkas-Bather, MD, of University of Chicago, will present findings from their CFAR pilot awards. Pyra will present “Persistence, Risk, and Decision-Making Among a PrEP Using Cohort: A Mixed-Methods Study” and Pagkas-Bather will present “Examining Preferred ARV Implementation Strategies Among Young Black MSM: A Multilevel Approach.”
About the Presenters:
Maria Pyra, PhD, MPH, is an assistant professor in the department of medical social sciences at Northwestern University and the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH). As an infectious disease epidemiologist, her work focuses on sexual and reproductive health and using implementation science to improve the equitable delivery of HIV and STI prevention. Pyra’s current research includes improving pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) access and use among Black ciswomen, understanding decision making around PrEP, developing PrEP metrics to improve implementation, and using implementation science to improve delivery of COVID vaccines and syphilis prevention.
Jade Pagkas-Bather, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine in the section of infectious diseases and global health at the University of Chicago and the director of status neutral care at the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination. She is the first person at the University of Chicago to receive a Third Coast CFAR HIV-related Cardiovascular and Sleep Disorders K12 Career Development Program scholarship. Her research interests include HIV prevention efforts among minority men who have sex with men using PrEP. She is also interested in ways to combine PrEP with other STI prevention strategies among this population through community outreach and collaboration with local organizations to make HIV and STI prevention efforts more patient-centered and less stigmatizing.