Transforming systems of care to address HIV, HIV risk, and substance use disorders in prisons

Dr. Helen Jack, assistant professor (General Internal Medicine)
is principal investigator of an NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, "Transforming Systems of Care to Address HIV, HIV Risk, and Substance Use Disorders in Prisons," funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

The four-year, $2.3 million NIDA Avenir grant supports early career researchers conducting high-risk, high-reward research on HIV and substance use.

Jack, who also provides primary care in the Washington State prison system, will work to establish a learning health system within the state’s prison system. Learning health systems, like the Veterans Health Administration (VA), integrate research with clinical practice to improve care quality, efficiency, and accessibility while generating valuable insights on care delivery that can be applied to other systems.

"This initiative will pave the way for research aimed at enhancing care quality and generating knowledge on patient experiences to improve prison healthcare nationwide," said Jack.

Part of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award supports early career investigators of exceptional creativity who propose bold and highly innovative research projects with the potential to produce a major impact on broad, important areas relevant to the NIH mission.