Overview
The NCCC PrEP Champion Preceptorship is an intensive PrEP training and capacity-building opportunity for pharmacists and other clinical healthcare providers who are interested in further developing their PrEP care-related knowledge and skills. A key goal of this activity is to highlight how pharmacies and/or pharmacists can be integrated into health center PrEP activities. The preceptorship is available to clinicians at Ending the HIV Epidemic-Primary Care HIV Prevention (PCHP) awarded health centers*.
* Eligible health centers are listed here by fiscal year (FY): FY 2020, FY 2021, FY 2022 and FY 2023.
Learning Goals
By the end of the training, participants will be able to:
- Describe indications, strategies, and laboratory testing associated with the provision and monitoring of different PrEP regimens/schedules.
- Describe the role of the clinical pharmacist and other PrEP team members in identifying, promoting and retaining eligible PrEP recipients.
- Examine the facilitators and barriers to PrEP use and populations experiencing disparities in access to HIV prevention.
Cost & Eligibility
- Cost: FREE.
- 11 continuing education credits are available for pharmacists, Advanced Practice Providers, nurses, and physicians.
- Any clinician working at/with a PCHP-awarded health center* who is interested in starting or implementing a PrEP program is welcome to apply. To increase pharmacist/ pharmacy integration into PrEP services, preference will be given to pharmacists who are connected with a PCHP-awarded health center. To address the disproportionately low access to PrEP services within the Latinx community, the NCCC encourages clinicians serving 50% or more Spanish-speaking patients in a clinic or is fluent in Spanish to apply.
- Each participant must commit to attending every session and obtain advanced approval from their supervisor(s) to participate.
Format
This preceptorship will include the following components:
- Independent study, 4 hours between October 14 to November 12, 2024, to be completed before the first live learning session. This content aims to provide a strong foundational knowledge to facilitate engagement during the live sessions.
- Two live sessions via Zoom, November 13 and 14, 2024 from 9 am to 1:30 pm PST. The first session will utilize case studies of varying complexity to solidify advanced clinical knowledge of PrEP care. The second session will focus on implementation, providing practical information to help identify and navigate PrEP service-related challenges.
- Ongoing clinical consultation and individualized support via the NCCC’s national PrEPline team.
Application Deadline & Contact Information
- Deadline: September 20, 2024.
- Apply here: Application
Question? Contact Hoa.Su@ucsf.edu with questions about the application and Chris.Bositis@ucsf.edu with questions about the program.
Instructors
Carolyn Chu, MD, MSc, FAAFP, AAHIVS
Carolyn Chu is a family physician and HIV Specialist who completed undergraduate education at Case Western Reserve University, received her medical degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and completed a clinical research fellowship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NY. She currently serves as PI of the AETC Program’s National Clinician Consultation Center, and has also served as medical director for a network of federally qualified health centers in New York. Dr. Chu practices at the San Francisco General Hospital Family Health Center where she helps support HIV training/education and care delivery initiatives.
Chris Bositis, MD, AAHIVS
Chris Bositis, MD is Clinical Director for the NCCC, and a family physician experienced in working with communities that have suffered disproportionately from the overlapping infectious disease and opioid syndemic. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Medicine and did his family medicine residency at Brown University/Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island. Prior to joining the NCCC, he worked at Greater Lawrence Family Health Center in Lawrence, MA, where he played a key role in the development and implementation of novel programs such as a mobile buprenorphine program for individuals experiencing homelessness.
Betty Dong, PharmD, AAHIVP
Betty Dong is a professor of clinical pharmacy for the Schools of Pharmacy and Family and Community Medicine at UCSF. She is a clinical pharmacist specializing in the care of patients with hepatitis C, HIV, hypertension, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. She provides patient education and medication and side effect monitoring for persons seen at the Family Health Center HIV clinic located at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and previously at the UCSF Liver Transplant Clinic. She is a senior consultant for the NCCC’s HIV, PrEP, Perinatal HIV, HCV and PEP lines as well as provides monthly case discussions on HIV and HCV for clinicians working in the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Cristina Gruta, PharmD, AAHIVP
Cristina Gruta is a clinical pharmacist specializing in HIV and hepatitis C pharmacotherapy. She is a senior consultant for the NCCC’s HIV Warm, PEP, PrEP, Perinatal HIV, and HCV lines. She also mentors’ new clinicians with a focus on best consultation practices. Clinically, Dr. Gruta cares for BIPOC patients living with and at-risk for HIV at the UCSF 360 Wellness Center where she works collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team to optimize drug therapy and healthcare outcomes. She obtained her PharmD at UCSF and did residencies in pharmacy practice and HIV/AIDS.
Parya Saberi, PharmD, MAS, MFA, AAHIVP
Parya Saberi is an Associate Professor at the Division of Prevention Science in the Department of Medicine at UCSF. With funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Nursing Research, Dr. Saberi’s research includes assessing technology-based strategies such as mobile applications, web-based tools, video-conferencing platforms, and text messaging to improve ART adherence and engagement in HIV care among youth living with HIV. She is also examining novel adherence assessment methods and an PrEP tool for healthcare providers who are prescribing PrEP. Dr. Saberi is a senior consultant with the NCCC’s HIV, PrEP, and PEP lines.
Erin R Lutes, MS, RN, PHN, CNS
Erin R Lutes is a Clinical Nurse Specialist with a specialty in public health and HIV. She has been an HIV prevention consultant for the NCCC since 2014 and has a special interest in stigma and harm reduction. She graduated from UCSF’s Master’s Entry Program in Nursing and Master of Science program and worked for the San Francisco Department of Public Health at Southeast Health Center’s HIV team and as a nurse in San Francisco-based primary care and urgent care clinics. Erin has worked as Adjunct Faculty at Samuel Merritt University and as a clinical instructor for the UCSF’s School of Nursing. She is a US Schweitzer Fellow for Life.
Astha Kanani, MD
Astha Kanani is an Internal Medicine Physician who provides expert HIV consultation and education to NCCC callers and online service users on HIV and perinatal HIV management, pre-exposure prophylaxis, and bloodborne pathogen exposure management. She started her training the Montefiore’s Social Medicine Internal Medicine Residency program in NY and finished at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. Her heart in medicine lies with a social justice lens and trauma-informed care. Her consultations often involve an equity lens and a patient-centered approach to care.
Accreditation
Physicians: UCSF designates this enduring material for a maximum of 11 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Nurse Practitioners and Registered Nurses: This activity may be used for up to 11.00 contact hours. Learners must view each video, complete all knowledge checks, and submit the associated evaluation to receive the contact hours.
Physician Assistants: The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) states that the AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ are acceptable for continuing medical education requirements for recertification.
Pharmacists: This activity is approved for 11 hours under the ACPE Universal Activity Number JA0000302-0000-24-018-H01-P. Credit will be reported to CPE Monitor upon completion of both the home study and live components.
All professions: This activity was planned by and for the healthcare team, and learners will receive 11.00 Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credits for learning and change.
This National Clinician Consultation Center program is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $2,397,604 with 0% financed with non-governmental sources.
The content in this preceptorship are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.