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INFORMATION FOR

Project HERO

Project HERO is an extension of current work that uses evidence-based interventions to provide HIV treatment, behavioral health services, and housing to PLWH in the New Haven area. The study is one of twelve demonstration sites across the United States that will implement, evaluate, and disseminate innovative strategies for integrating HIV care, housing, and employment services into a coordinated intervention.

HERO builds on our former study, mHEALTH (Medical Home Engagement and Aligning Lifestyles and Transitions from Homelessness). The project will continue to enhance a community relationship with Liberty Community Services, the largest HUD and HOPWA service provider in the area. It also includes: the implementation of the Getting to Work Technical Assistance modules; training HERO staff in the Getting to Work initiative to increase the competence of all disciplines on employment and training opportunities for clients; facilitating maximum access to mainstream, disability and income-specific employment and occupational training services; and facilitating access to affordable and subsidized safe, decent and accessible housing. The project aims to have three key impacts:

Impact 1:

Improve linkage to care for PLH

Impact 2:

Increase use of a PCMH for PLH who are unstably housed or homeless

Impact 3:

Empower clients through employment resources with training and job placement assistance

  • Frederick Lewis Altice, MD, MA

    Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases); Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health; Director, Yale Center for Clinical and Community Research, Department of Medicine; Director, HIV in Prisons Program; Director, Community Health Care Van; Academic Icon Professor of Medicine, University of Malaya-Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA)

    Frederick (Rick) L. Altice is a professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Public Health and is a clinician, clinical epidemiologist, intervention and implementation science researcher at Yale University School of Medicine and School of Public Health. Dr. Altice’s primary research focuses on interventions and implementation science at the interface between infectious diseases and addiction and he has conducted research in several global health settings. He also has a number of projects working in the criminal justice system, including transitional programs addressing infectious diseases, medications for opioid use disorder (methadone, buprenorphine, extended release naltrexone), mental illness, homelessness and social instability. Specific topics include alcohol, opioid, stimulant and nicotine use disorders on HIV treatment outcomes, HIV and addiction treatment, interface with the criminal justice system, and pharmacokinetic drug interactions between treatment for substance use disorders and antiretroviral and tuberculosis therapy. At a basic level, his research focuses on clinical epidemiology, especially in key populations at risk for HIV (e.g., MSM, TGW, PWID, prisoners, sex workers) and development, adaptation and evaluation of of biomedical and behavioral interventions to improve treatment outcomes. His research, however, has evolved and included development and testing of mobile technologies (mHealth) to intervene with key populations to promote health outcomes.  His research is especially concentrated in health services research techniques with a focus on implementation science, seeking to introduce and scale-up evidence-based interventions in numerous contexts. A number of implementation science strategies are underway to examine scale-up of medication-assisted therapies to treat opioid use disorder in community, criminal justice and in primary care settings. Most recently, his work has been augmented through use of decision science techniques to understand and promote patient preferences, including the development of informed and shared decision-making aids. His work has emerged primarily with a global health focus with funded research projects internationally in Malaysia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, and Indonesia. He has participated in projects through the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency, Special Projects of National Significance with HRSA, and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. He is currently also collaborating on projects with the WHO, UNAIDS, USAID, PEPFAR and UNODC. Current internationally funded projects in dedicated research sites that are being conducted in Malaysia, Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Peru. His research and training sites in Malaysia (2005), Peru (2010) and Ukraine (2005) are dedicated training and research sites for the Global Health Equity Scholars Fogarty Training Program and the Doris Duke International Fellowship program. He is currently the director for two International Implementation Science Research and Training Centers with collaborations between Yale University and the University of Malaya and Sichuan University.
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Funding Provided by: 
Health Resources and Services Administration 

Project Period: 
2017 - 2020