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Project NEW HOPE

Project NEW HOPE was a double-blinded placebo controlled RCT of XR NTX among HIV+ prisoners with opioid dependence who were transitioning from the prison to the community setting. HIV treatment (HIV-1 RNA levels, CD4 count), substance abuse treatment (time to relapse to opioid use, percent of days using opioids, percent of days abstinent from opioids, addiction severity), adverse side effects, and HIV risk behavior (sexual and drug-related risks) outcomes were assessed. This project was conducted in New Haven, Hartford, and Springfield in collaboration with Baystate Medical Center.

Funding provided by:
National Institute on Drug Abuse 

Project Period:
September 1, 2010 – August 31, 2015 

Link to Report:
Project New Hope at projectreporter.nih.gov

  • Principal Investigator

    Professor of Medicine (AIDS) and Associate Clinical Professor of Nursing; Director, Infectious Disease Outpatient Clinic, Veterans Administration Healthcare Services, Newington

    Sandra Springer, MD is a Professor of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases at the Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Springer is Board-Certified in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Addiction Medicine. She is also an attending physician at the Veterans Administration Connecticut Healthcare System (VACHS) and the Director of the Infectious Disease Clinic at the Newington site of the VACHS. She is an appointed member of the International Antiviral Society–USA (IAS–USA) Antiretroviral Guidelines Panel as well as a Core Faculty member and has been appointed to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Framework for the Consideration of Chronic Conditions in Women. She mentors students across disciplines including public health, medicine, and the social sciences. Her research centers on the integration of substance use and infectious diseases with a focus on opioid use treatment and the treatment and prevention of HIV infection in people with carceral experience. In 2022, she was awarded the NIDA Avant Garde award for her innovative proposal to bring mobile health care for substance use and infectious diseases to where people live, through a mobile pharmacy and clinic. She is the director of her clinical research lab InSTRIDE (Integrating Substance use Treatment Research with Infectious Disease for Everyone) which encompasses a multidisciplinary team including research staff, clinicians, community health workers, and patient navigators as well as a mobile health unit and a mobile pharmacy and clinic.