Going social: Success in online recruitment of men who have sex with men for prevention HIV vaccine research.

Objective: To compare the use of four different social media sites to recruit men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women to a phase 2b HIV prevention vaccine trial, HVTN 505.

Design: Retrospective, observational study.

Methods: The University of Pennsylvania HIV Vaccine Trials Unit (Penn HVTU) employed street outreach and online recruitment methods to recruit participants for HVTN 505 using a combination of national recruitment images/messages with Philadelphia-specific language and imagery.

Individual and community factors associated with geographic clusters of poor HIV care retention and poor viral suppression.

Background: Previous analyses identified specific geographic areas in Philadelphia (hotspots) associated with negative outcomes along the HIV care continuum. We examined individual and community factors associated with residing in these hotspots.

Methods: Retrospective cohort of 1404 persons newly diagnosed with HIV in 2008-2009 followed for 24 months after linkage to care.

Behind the cascade: analyzing spatial patterns along the HIV care continuum.

Background: Successful HIV treatment as prevention requires individuals to be tested, aware of their status, linked to and retained in care, and virally suppressed. Spatial analysis may be useful for monitoring HIV care by identifying geographic areas with poor outcomes.

Methods: Retrospective cohort of 1704 people newly diagnosed with HIV identified from Philadelphia's Enhanced HIV/AIDS Reporting System in 2008-2009, with follow-up to 2011.

The development of a culturally relevant, theoretically driven HPV prevention intervention for urban adolescent females and their parents/guardians.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States, accounting for the large majority of cervical cancer and anogenital warts cases. Two HPV vaccines are currently licensed and recommended for women and girls. However, vaccination rates have been suboptimal, with evidence of disparities influencing both uptake and series completion among African American and Hispanic adolescents.

An exploratory study of adolescent female reactions to direct-to-consumer advertising: the case of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine.

When the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was approved in 2006, an extensive direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising campaign raised awareness and promoted vaccination. This study explores adolescents' exposure to and understanding of the messages in these advertisements. Sixty-seven African American females participated in a focus group about DTC advertising for the HPV vaccine.

Selectively willing and conditionally able: HIV vaccine trial participation among women at "high risk" of HIV infection.

Efficacy studies of investigational HIV vaccines require enrollment of individuals at 'high risk' for HIV. This paper examines participation in HIV vaccine trials among women at 'high risk' for HIV acquisition. In-depth interviews were conducted with 17 African-American women who use crack cocaine and/or exchange sex for money/drugs to elicit attitudes toward medical research and motivators and deterrents to HIV vaccine trial participation.