UTHealth Houston
PROJECT
Advocating for Community Voice in Houston HIV Research
ROLE
Board Member
TIMELINE
June 2026 - Present
TEAM
UTHealth Infectious Diseases Physicians, CAB Liaisons, and 30+ Co-Board-Members
01 Summary
I serve on the Community Advisory Board for UTHealth Houston’s HART, a clinical research team operating out of Thomas Street Health Center, the first free-standing HIV clinic in the United States. The CAB reviews HART's clinical trials from a community perspective and works to make sure ongoing HIV research reflects the needs of the people it's meant to serve.
CORE COMPETENCIES:
HIV Treatment & Prevention, Community Advocacy, Clinical Trial Oversight
02 Approach
I review clinical trial protocols before they reach the community, flagging language, procedures, or recruitment approaches that could create friction or mistrust for people considering enrollment. I represent the CAB at public events, acting as a visible link between HART's ongoing HIV research and the people it's meant to serve. I connect community members to active studies and to HIV testing and prevention resources, including PrEP, translating clinical opportunities into something people can actually act on. The work sits at the intersection of research design and community trust; making sure trials ran through the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), the two federal networks behind most of HART's treatment and prevention research, reflect the people they're recruiting.
03 Impact
Protocols reach study sites more accessible to the communities they're meant to enroll. HART's research stays visible to a population that has historically had reason to distrust clinical research and affected Houstonians move from awareness to actual access, connecting to testing, prevention, and treatment they might not otherwise find.