Vulnerable Populations

Methamphetamine use and HIV could create a double jeopardy for COVID-19 pandemic among men who have sex with men, according to a newly published editorial by Dr. Adam W. Carrico, a prolific public health scientist at the Miller School of Medicine.

Dr. Felicia Knaul, who is director of the Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas and professor at the Department of Public Health Sciences, has been a long-time advocate for worldwide palliative care. In the time of COVID-19, Dr. Knaul weighed in on the importance of palliative care in tackling the pandemic.

Dr. Adam Carrico has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to work on the COVID-19 Research for Understanding the Role of Substances and HIV (CRUSH) study. With the support of the Miami Center for AIDS Research, CRUSH will examine if the co-occurrence of methamphetamine and HIV could increase the rate of COVID-19 infection in sexual minority men.

Dr. Alberto Caban-Martinez is working with a team of researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center to assess the prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies among South Florida firefighters and paramedics. The project is called the Firefighter Tracking, Resources and Assessment of COVID-19 Epidemiology (F-TRACE) project. The F-TRACE project will continue to provide COVID-19 surveillance, as well as resources and guidance, to first responders in order to minimize the transmission of COVID-19 in the community.

Researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, including Dr. Olveen Carrasquillo and Dr. Erin Kobetz from the Department of Public Health Sciences, will lead the Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19 Disparities (CEAL). The objective of the program is to counteract misinformation about COVID-19, understand barriers to care, and promote minority participation in vaccine and therapeutic clinical trials.

A new ecological study has found that COVID-19 infection is associated with economic disadvantage and stress in a particular geographic area and not with its racial/ethnic distribution. Social determinants of health, therefore, play a key role in the development of mitigation strategies to prevent further spread of COVID-19. Dr. Ana Palacio and Dr. Leonardo Tamariz from the Department of Public Health Sciences and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine served as lead and senior authors of the study.

A new study led by Dr. Ana Palacio from the Department of Public Health Sciences will develop population-based strategies to address COVID-19 health disparities across communities in Miami-Dade County. Dr. Palacio and a group of experts from University of Miami will compare the data of communities that have been the hardest hit to communities that have been impacted less.

Among the community characteristics that will be evaluated are clinical, social, environmental and economic factors. The study will help identify the local COVID-19 impact and develop best approaches to reduce the disparities.