# The Hub for Research in Atlanta on Addressing SUD to Promote HIV Elimination at Reentry (THRASHER)

> **NIH NIH R61** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $517,014

## Abstract

Abstract
 Substance use disorder (SUD) disproportionately affects incarcerated people and increases HIV transmission
risk among infected and at-risk populations. We will establish a Regional Research Hub (RRH) in greater
metropolitan Atlanta to improve linkages to care for a recently incarcerated, HIV status-neutral group of
individuals who experience SUD. Georgia leads the U.S. in correctional supervision (6.4% of all adults) and in
HIV incidence (25.4/100,000). Only 2.7% of new HIV cases in Georgia are primarily attributable to injecting
drugs. Historically, heroin has rarely been found in urine drug testing of persons arrested in Atlanta. Blacks are
disproportionately jailed in Georgia, yet heroin use accounts for only 2% of admissions of Blacks to Georgia drug
treatment facilities. Nevertheless, SUD pervasively contributes to HIV transmission. Although much NIDA-funded
criminal legal research, such as the recent Justice Community Opioid Innovations Network initiative, has focused
on opioid use, other substances are more associated with SUDs and HIV transmission in Atlanta. Given metro-
Atlanta needs, we will address SUD more widely in our RRH’s drug-related HIV prevention and management
efforts, using the situated Information, Motivation, Behavioral Skills model of Care Initiation and Maintenance.
 Specifically, we aim (1a) in years 1-2 of this project to conduct a pilot test of a previously developed
intervention for linkage to/retention in care after jail via case management and peer navigation, SUCCESS-E.
The intervention will be delivered to 60-100 persons with SUD in Fulton County Jail (FCJ) in an HIV status neutral
manner. We plan to link Persons with HIV (PWH) to HIV care and Persons at High Risk of Seroconversion
(PHRS) to PrEP care in combination with SUD treatment post release. In a randomized trial, we will compare
linkage using SUCCESS-E versus treatment as usual; we will also gather cost data. Also, in years 1-2, we aim
(1b) to conduct interviews of stakeholders in Fulton County, including study participants, for feedback on how
well the intervention was adapted and implemented to meet the needs of persons with SUD, with or without HIV,
who were leaving the jail. We will use the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research to guide our
interview script. Lastly in these years, we aim (1c) to form partnerships with jails and community stakeholders in
2-3 neighboring counties to gather information to revise and prepare for scale-up testing of the intervention in
subsequent years. We will interview PWH/PHRS with SUD who are involved in the criminal legal system and jail
administrators and other stakeholders to identify barriers and facilitators to implementing the intervention in these
jurisdictions neighboring FCJ. In years 3-6, we aim (2) to conduct a Type I hybrid implementation-effectiveness
trial among detained and released PWH/PHRS with SUD in multiple metro Atlanta counties. Using a stepped
wedge trial design, we will ev...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11057278
- **Project number:** 1R61DA062365-01
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Rhonda C Conerly Holliday
- **Activity code:** R61 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $517,014
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-30 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11057278

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11057278, The Hub for Research in Atlanta on Addressing SUD to Promote HIV Elimination at Reentry (THRASHER) (1R61DA062365-01). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/11057278. Licensed CC0.

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