Conversations with CEI

It has been 40 years since the first known case of HIV was documented and we have come a long way in the past 40 years. HIV is now a chronic disease, we have highly effective HIV prevention options like PEP and PrEP, and we are now able to offer long-acting injectables for HIV treatment and soon HIV prevention. While we can celebrate these achievements, HIV health disparities persist. We see that communities who experience multiple forms of oppression have not benefitted as much from medical advances in HIV treatment and prevention. In this episode, Dr. Antonio E. Urbina, Medical Director for CEI’s HIV Primary Care and Prevention Center of Excellence, speaks with two experts to learn more about these disparities and what providers can do to address them: Kenyon Farrow, a public health and infectious disease activist, writer, and editor, and Dr. Sabrina Gard, a primary care provider specializing in HIV. Related Content: PrEP4All: https://www.prep4all.org/ Not Just a Black Body: https://notjustablackbody.com CEI toll free line for NYS providers: 866-637-2342 https://ceitraining.org/

Join us for the fifth and final episode of Any Positive Change, a Drug User Health Podcast. Dr. Margie Urban from the University of Rochester and the Clinical Education Initiative’s Sexual Health Center of Excellence joins as a guest host for this episode. She met with Dr. Sandy Springer from Yale University for a wide ranging conversation about her experiences as a joint Infectious Diseases and Addiction Medicine specialist from the early in the HIV epidemic to the present day. Listen as they discuss the progress in the field and some future directions of research at the intersection of drug user health and infectious diseases. Future podcasts can be found at ‘Conversations with CEI’ and will focus on drug user health, Hepatitis C, sexual health and HIV care and prevention. Come join us there. Related content:  CEI toll free line for NYS providers: 866-637-2342 https://ceitraining.org/

[The following episode was initially recorded as part of "Any Positive Change", which has since merged with Conversations with CEI] Pre-exposure prophylaxis, also known as PrEP, is a highly effective way to prevent HIV infection. While we are most familiar with the pill that is taken every day, there are new long acting injectables coming down the pipeline, with the potential to improve PrEP adherence. Roughly 1 in 5 people who use drugs are at very high risk of getting HIV. Despite this, very few of them are actually getting PrEP. To hear more about these new advancements in PrEP, and how we can close the treatment gap for people who use drugs, Dr. Linda Wang interviewed Dr. Tony Urbina, an infectious disease physician and Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine. Dr. Urbina is also the Medical Director of the New York State Clinical Education Initiative HIV Primary Care and Prevention Center of Excellence. Future podcasts can be found at ‘Conversations with CEI’ and will focus on drug user health, Hepatitis C, sexual health and HIV care and prevention. Come join us there. Related content:  CEI toll free line for NYS providers: 866-637-2342 https://ceitraining.org/

[The following episode was initially recorded as part of "Any Positive Change", which has since merged with Conversations with CEI] In this episode, Dr. Linda Wang interviews Dr. Margie Urban, an infectious disease physician and Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester and the Medical Director of the New York State Clinical Education Initiative Sexual Health Center of Excellence. Listen as we discuss the rising number of sexually transmitted infections affecting communities across the country and in New York State, and how clinicians and the New York State Department of Health have been responding to this crisis in the middle of a pandemic. Future podcasts can be found at ‘Conversations with CEI’ and will focus on drug user health, Hepatitis C, sexual health and HIV care and prevention. Come join us there. Related content:  CEI toll free line for NYS providers: 866-637-2342 https://ceitraining.org/

[The following episode was initially recorded as part of "Any Positive Change", which has since merged with Conversations with CEI] The medical clinic at New York Harm Reduction Educators (NYHRE) provides access to healthcare right in the middle of the drop-in center. Participants who come for sterile injection equipment can also receive treatment for hepatitis C and be prescribed buprenorphine, a medication for opioid use disorder, on-site at NYHRE. Perhaps more importantly, they receive all of this at a clinic that is loving, nurturing, and provides non-stigmatizing care to people who use drugs. Hear about how the NYHRE clinic operates and why it is so important to provide this low-barrier model of care to people who use drugs, from Brianna Norton, DO, Medical Director of the NYHRE medical clinic, and Christine Fitzsimmons, RN. Brianna and Christine also talk about the challenges faced during the pandemic, and how they are staying connected to their patients to keep them safe and healthy.

[The following episode was initially recorded as part of "Any Positive Change", which has since merged with Conversations with CEI] Syringe service programs play a critical role in the lives of people who use drugs, providing not only sterile injection equipment and naloxone kits for overdose reversal, but also a safe and welcoming place to take a shower and get a cup of coffee. Some programs, like New York Harm Reduction Educators (NYHRE) in East Harlem, also provide medical care, including hepatitis C treatment and buprenorphine, a medication for opioid use disorder. In early 2019, when the Covid pandemic hit New York City and led to widespread disruptions in routine healthcare delivery, syringe service programs like NYHRE rapidly adjusted their model of care in order to sustain their life-saving programming. Hear from Sheree, a participant at NYHRE as well as Pia Marcus, Director of Syringe Access and Outreach for NYHRE and Washington Heights Corner Program, about their experiences.

On June 18, 2025, the FDA approved Yeztugo, the brand name for subcutaneous lenacapavir, a prescription medication used for the pre-exposure prophylaxis of HIV.  Subcutaneous lenacapavir is administered twice a year (every six months) to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV-1 infection in adults and adolescents at risk. With patients only needing lenacapavir twice a year for HIV prevention, the field has been optimistic about the potential for lenacapavir to reduce barriers and improve access to PrEP. Since we are still early in the rollout subcutaneous lenacapavir, many providers have questions about how to offer it to their patients—from workflow to billing to managing potential side effects and drug-drug interactions. On this episode, Antonio Urbina, MD, Medical Director for CEI’s HIV Primary Care and Prevention Center of Excellence, speaks with Alex Danforth, PharmD. Alex Danforth is a clinical pharmacist in Rochester, NY.  She practices at Trillium Health, a federally qualified health center, where she works with patients and providers to help manage medications and optimize care.  Alex currently provides clinical leadership for HIV treatment and prevention programs.  Drs. Urbina and Danforth talk about the latest New York State Clinical Guidelines for PrEP, which were updated on October 16th. The new guidelines provide important updates, including subcutaneous lenacapavir. They discuss important considerations for initiating patients on lenacapavir as well as some early lessons learned from implementing lenacapavir in their Rochester- and New York City-based clinics. Related Content:  PrEP to Prevent HIV and Promote Sexual Health University of Liverpool HIV Drug Interactions Checker (website and app) CEI Line: 1-866-637-2342 https://ceitraining.org/

This month, host Dr. Marguerite Urban chats with Dr. Jason Zucker, an adult and pediatric infectious diseases physician at Columbia University and the assistant medical director of the New York City HIV/STI Prevention Training Center, about an emerging fungal infection, Trichophyton mentagrophytes Genotype VII, also known as TMVII. Curious about what clinicians should know about TMVII? Listen now to learn more! Related Content: CEI Line: 1-866-637-2342 www.ceitraining.org www.hivguidelines.org “Notes from the Field: Trichophyton mentagrophytes Genotype VII – New York City, April – July 2024” - https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7343a5.htm Emerging Sexual Transmission of Trichophyton mentagrophytes Genotype VII Infections, United States - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/31/10/25-1056_article Information for Healthcare Providers: Emerging Ringworm - https://www.cdc.gov/ringworm/hcp/clinician-brief-resistant-infections/index.html

On September 9th, CEI hosted its first in-person conference dedicated to hepatitis C and drug user health. A group of New York State-based clinicians met in Catskill for a full day agenda focused on (1) integrating wellness into clinical practice as a way to improve patient care and outcomes, and (2) innovative decision- making frameworks to help clinicians navigate complex scenarios in the absence of strong formal evidence, like clinical guidelines and peer reviewed studies. This episode of “Conversations with CEI” features conference planner and facilitator Taylor Edelmann – an educator and consultant working at the intersection of LGBTQIA+ health, drug user health and harm reduction – sharing his experience and insights about the day. Taylor currently oversees the Lighthouse Learning Collective at the National Harm Reduction Coalition, a program focused on supporting LGBTQIA+ harm reductionists and people who use drugs and engage in sex work. As one of the first openly transgender NCAA athletes, Taylor brings a deeply personal lens to his work advocating for gender-affirming care. He regularly provides clinical education and technical assistance to providers across the country, including Yale University and one of Connecticut’s largest federally qualified health centers, and recently presented at the 2025 Harm Reduction International Conference in Bogotá, Colombia. Taylor is also the co- creator of ChemSex Awareness Week, and the lead author of Gender Affirming Harm Reduction: A Toolkit for Syringe Service Programs, the first resource of its kind developed specifically for social service providers in harm reduction settings.  Related Content:  2025 Annual NYS Hepatitis C and Drug User Health conference website: https://ceitraining.org/conference/conferences/3 Lighthouse Learning Collective at the National Harm Reduction Coalition: https://harmreduction.org/our-work/action/lighthouse-learning-collective/ Gender Affirming Harm Reduction: A Toolkit for Syringe Service Programs: https://lighthousetoolkit.my.canva.site/ Narrative Medicine: https://www.aamc.org/news/narrative-medicine-every-patient-has-story Drug, Set, and Setting: The Basis for Controlled Intoxicant Use: https://southwestrecoveryalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Drug-Set-and-Setting-Zinberg-N-1.pdf CEI Clinical Consultation Line 1-866-637-2342 A toll-free service for NYS clinicians offering real-time clinical consultations with specialists on HIV, sexual health, hepatitis C, and drug user health. ceitraining.org

In this episode of Conversations with CEI, Dr. Steven Fine unpacks some of the latest developments and research presented at the 2025 International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Science, held in Kigali, Rwanda. From innovative treatment strategies to advancements in prevention and global health equity, Dr. Fine highlights the pivotal discussions and groundbreaking studies that are shaping the future of HIV care. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of the strides being made in the fight against HIV and the collaborative efforts driving progress on a global scale. Related Content:  The International AIDS Society (IAS) https://www.iasociety.org/conferences/ias2025 Official site for the IAS 2025, 13th IAS Conference on HIV Science, held in Kigali, Rwanda, from July 14-17, 2025. https://www.iasociety.org/blog/takeaways-ias-2025 Takaways from the IAS 2025 Conference CEI Clinical Consultation Line 1-866-637-2342 A toll-free service for NYS clinicians offering real-time clinical consultations with specialists on HIV, sexual health, hepatitis C, and drug user health. www.ceitraining.org

The demographics of HIV care are rapidly changing, and with them, the clinical needs of patients aging with HIV. In this episode, host Dr. Tony Urbina, Medical Director for CEI's HIV Primary Care and Prevention Center of Excellence, sits down with geriatrician Dr. Angela Condo to explore the unique intersection of geriatric medicine and HIV care.   Dr. Angela Condo is a board-certified internist and geriatrician at Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine, where she established the Comprehensive Program of Integrated Care for Older Adults with HIV at the Peter Krueger Clinic. With initial support from the Keith Herring Foundation and additional HRSA funding through the Aging with HIV initiative, her interdisciplinary program has been serving patients for five years using an innovative embedded consultation model. Related Content:  NYS DOH AI Guidance on Addressing the Needs of Older Patients in HIV Care: https://www.hivguidelines.org/guideline/hiv-aging/ CEI Clinical Consultation Line 1-866-637-2342 A toll-free service for NYS clinicians offering real-time clinical consultations with specialists on HIV, sexual health, hepatitis C, and drug user health. ceitraining.org

Live from Canandaigua…it’s the 11th Annual NYS Sexual Health Conference! The CEI Sexual Health Center of Excellence hosted the 11th Annual NYS Sexual Health Conference in-person on Friday May 2, 2025, in beautiful Canandaigua, NY. This was the Center’s second in-person conference since the COVID-19 pandemic and was the Center’s largest in-person event held to-date, bringing together over 225 clinicians and public health professionals from across NYS (and beyond!).  In this episode, host Juhua Wu, Director of the University of Rochester Center for Community Practice and team member of the CEI Sexual Health Center of Excellence, checks in live from the conference with four presenters about their experience at the conference, perspectives on what they learned from other sessions, and “need to know” highlights from their own presentations. Join Juhua, along with Rachel Hart-Malloy, PhD, MPH, Brenda Tesini, MD, Michael Brennan, DNP, FNP, and Jeremy Kidd, MD, MPH, for a real-time review of the conference! Related Content: STI Dashboard New York: https://www.stidashboardny.org/   Chemsex: Questions and Answers: https://www.suguidelinesnys.org/guideline/chemsex/  New York State Department of Health, Healthy Sex campaign: https://campaigns.health.ny.gov/SexualHealth  University of Rochester Center for Community Practice: www.urccp.org  CEI Clinical Consultation Line 1-866-637-2342 A toll-free service for NYS clinicians offering real-time clinical consultations with specialists on HIV, sexual health, hepatitis C, and drug user health. ceitraining.org

New York drug overdose deaths and death rates are on the decline, but with significant disparities and the current, toxic drug supply is partially to blame. Harmful additives like fentanyl analogues, xylazine and medetomidine, among others, have been found in cocaine, heroin, MDMA and pressed into pills. Additives are undetectable by sight, taste and smell which increases the risk of overdose for people who use and may not be aware of what’s in their drug supply. This episode features Drs. Sharon Stancliff and Jennifer Love discussing additives commonly found in the New York State supply, including BTMPS, fentanyl analogues, medetomidine, nitazenes and an updates on xylazine. Related Content:  New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute Clinical Guidelines Program for Substance Use Care: https://www.suguidelinesnys.org/ New York State Department of Health Drug Checking Program: https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/aids/consumers/prevention/oduh/drug_checking.htm New York City Department of Health Drug Checking Program: https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/alcohol-and-drug-use-services.page New York City Department of Health. Setting Up a Drug-checking Program: A Comprehensive Guide to Implementation. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/basas/drug-checking-program-implementation-guide.pdf https://legislativeanalysis.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/BTMPS-Fact-Sheet-FINAL.pdf Friedman, JR, et al. (2025) The detection of xylazine in Tijuana, Mexico: Triangulating drug checking and clinical urine testing data. J Addict Med. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000001474 Krotulski, AJ, et al. (2024) Medetomidine Rapidly Proliferating Across USA — Implicated In Recreational Opioid Drug Supply & Causing Overdose Outbreaks, Center for Forensic Science Research and Education, United States. Available from https://www.cfsre.org/images/content/reports/public_alerts/Public_Alert_Medetomidine_052024.pdf New York Medication for Addiction Treatment and Electronic Referrals (MATTERS) Program. Request test strips (for xylazine and fentanyl). Available from: https://mattersnetwork.org/request-test-strips/ New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS). Harm Reduction Delivered (online order for xylazine and fentanyl test strips). Available from: https://oasas.ny.gov/harm-reduction-delivered NEXT Distro. Ordering Supplies (for safer drug use). Available from: https://nextdistro.org/nydistro  CEI Clinical Consultation Line 1-866-637-2342 A toll-free service for NYS clinicians offering real-time clinical consultations with specialists on HIV, sexual health, hepatitis C, and drug user health. ceitraining.org

In this episode of Conversations with CEI, we engage with CEI’s clinicians, researchers, and public health experts to explore current and emerging issues in HIV primary care, sexual health, Hepatitis C, and drug user health. From the early days of the HIV epidemic to today’s complex syndemic approach, our experts share valuable insights and practical strategies for translating science into practice. We emphasize the importance of a syndemic approach to care, recognizing the overlapping health needs of patients, particularly in the marginalized population. Through a wide range of training and resources, CEI supports New York State clinicians in delivering comprehensive and inclusive care. Related Content: CEI Clinical Consultation Line 1-866-637-2342 A toll-free service for NYS clinicians offering real-time clinical consultations with specialists on HIV, sexual health, hepatitis C, and drug user health. ceitraining.org

In light of the increase in measles cases within the United States, this episode features Dr. Steven Fine, an infectious disease expert, who offers a comprehensive exploration of the history and progress of measles eradication efforts. Dr. Fine delves into the factors contributing to the resurgence of measles, particularly the role of misinformation in undermining public trust and vaccination efforts. Additionally, Dr. Fine walks us through the latest vaccination recommendations for patients with HIV, addressing the unique considerations required to safeguard this vulnerable group. Tune in to gain valuable insights and practical guidance on current vaccination recommendations aimed at protecting patients with HIV from measles in today's healthcare environment. Related Content: Measles for Health Care Providers: https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/measles/providers/ Measles Cases and Outbreaks | Measles (Rubeola) | CDC https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html CEI Clinical Consultation Line 1-866-637-2342 A toll-free service for NYS clinicians offering real-time clinical consultations with specialists on HIV, sexual health, hepatitis C, and drug user health. ceitraining.org

In May 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its annual HIV surveillance reports. The new data show a continuation of year-over-year reductions through 2022 in the estimated number of new HIV infections in the United States. But disconcerting trends among Latino people — the country’s second-largest racial or ethnic group after White, non-Latino people — reflect persistent failures in HIV prevention and treatment systems that this overall progress has overshadowed. Related Content:  CEI Line: 1-866-637-2342 ceitraining.org

Let’s dive in! This month, we welcome new hosts Patrick Passarelli, MD, an infectious diseases fellow at the University of Rochester, and Nicholas Gerbino, a public health professional at the Monroe County Sexual Health Clinic, who take a deep dive into all things syphilis. Dr. Passarelli and Nick discuss history, epidemiological trends, updates and diagnostics, screening strategies, and new studies exploring additional treatment and preventative options for syphilis. Related Content: CDC’s Sexually Transmitted Infections Surveillance, 2023: https://www.cdc.gov/sti-statistics/annual/index.html The Resurgence of Congenital Syphilis in NYS: A Look at the Past and Present to Change the Future: https://cei.podbean.com/e/the-resurgence-of-congenital-syphilis-in-nys-a-look-at-the-past-and-present-to-change-the-future/ Reflections from the 2024 CDC STI Prevention Conference: https://cei.podbean.com/e/reflections-from-the-2024-cdc-sti-prevention-conference/ CEI Line: 1-866-637-2342 ceitraining.org

Between 2010 and 2022 (the latest year for which data are available), 194,375 New Yorkers were diagnosed with hepatitis C (HCV) and of those, 53% (103,213 individuals) are known to have cleared their infection either through treatment or spontaneously. This statistic is worth celebrating, but also highlights the ongoing need for action – the goal outlined in New York State’s Hepatitis C Elimination Plan is to reach 80% by 2030. Furthermore, people who inject drugs are disproportionally affected by HCV – in 2022, 48% of newly reported cases of acute HCV in New York indicated injection drug use as a risk factor. And, when analyzing cases with known risk factors, that figure rose to 81% of newly reported acute cases indicating injection drug use. Providing HCV treatment in opioid treatment program (OTP)s is an innovative and necessary strategy to curb the ongoing epidemic and achieve statewide goals for elimination. This episode features Abigail Hunter, MPH, MSN, FNP-BC, sharing her experience providing HCV treatment at an OTP and recommendations for listeners interested in integrating treatment into clinical services.  Related Content: CEI Training “Hepatitis C and Injection Drug Use” - https://ceitraining.org/courses/1148 VOCAL-NY: https://www.vocal-ny.org/ Respectful, Equitable Access to Comprehensive Healthcare (REACH) Program at Mount Sinai: https://www.mountsinai.org/care/primary-care/upper-east-side/ima/reach New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute guideline for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in Adults: https://www.hivguidelines.org/hepatitis-care/hcv-treatment/ Taylor, LE. (2020), Colocalization in Hepatitis C Virus Infection Care: The Role of Opioid Agonist Therapy Clinics. Clinical Liver Disease, 16:12-15. https://doi.org/10.1002/cld.921 Addiction Technology Transfer Center Guide to Integrating HCV Services into Opioid Treatment Programs: https://attcnetwork.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/Guide%20to%20Integrating%20HCV%20Services%20into%20Opioid%20Treatment%20-%20July%2024-1.pdf New York State Hepatitis C Elimination Plan: https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/hepatitis/hepatitis_c/docs/hepatitis_c_elimination_plan.pdf New York State Hepatitis C Dashboard: https://hcvdashboardny.org/  CEI toll free line for NYS providers: 866-637-2342 https://ceitraining.org/  

This podcast outlines some of the data presented at the 25th International AIDS Conference from HPTN 084 as it pertains to using injectable cabotegravir for HIV PrEP during pregnancy. Related Content:  https://www.hptn.org/research/studies/hptn-084 https://programme.aids2024.org/Programme/Session/349 CEI toll free line for NYS providers: 866-637-2342 https://ceitraining.org/

Research suggests that LGBTQ adults have higher rates of substance use and mental health issues, compared to their heterosexual cisgender peers.  These health disparities are often related to minority stress—the chronic psychological and emotional strain that people experience due to being part of a marginalized social group. For example, some LGBTQ folks may use alcohol and drugs to cope with internalized homophobia or to self-medicate for anxiety and depression. On the other hand, some people use drugs in the context of social settings and connecting with others in their community. Since not all substance use is unhealthy, how do providers know how to identify when substance use is problematic?  And what can physicians do to best support their patients who may be at greater risk for harm or even overdose?  On this episode, Antonio Urbina, MD, Medical Director for CEI’s HIV Primary Care and Prevention Center of Excellence, speaks with Eric Kutscher, MD, MSc. Dr. Eric Kutscher is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine, where he practices as a primary care and addiction medicine physician at Mount Sinai's Internal Medicine Associates and REACH Program. He currently serves as the Medical Director of the Mount Sinai Hospital Opioid Overdose Prevention Program and Primary Care Lead for the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery. His clinical work and research focus on harm reduction techniques for patients with substance use disorders, particularly within the LGBTQ+ community. Drs. Urbina and Kutscher talk about how providers can identify when substance use is a problem and how to help patients manage substance use disorder, including treatment options and harm reduction strategies.  Related Content:  2021-2022 Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Behavioral Health A Provider's Introduction to Substance Abuse Treatment for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender (LGBT) Individuals CEI toll free line for NYS providers: 866-637-2342 https://ceitraining.org/