Assistant Professor Dorian Traube has received a two-year $200,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to help develop HIV interventions.

The AIDS Science Track Award for Research Transition (ASTART) grant is designed to facilitate the entry of new investigators and early career investigators to the area of drug abuse research on HIV/AIDS. Traube's study will contribute to effective HIV interventions for at-risk youth by developing a model to understand how environmental risk factors, impulsivity and coping strategies converge into drug abuse and sexual risk among young men who have sex with men.

"This is perhaps the first study ever conducted that will provide a comprehensive picture of the reasons why this group of adolescents engage in HIV risk-related behaviors and what can be done to reduce the occurrence of these behaviors. It represents an important step in the translation of research to practice," said Professor Lawrence Palinkas.

Traube will collaborate with Michele Kipke of Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Chih Ping Chou from the Department of Preventive Medicine at USC, Bin Xie of the USC School of Social Work and Craig Ewart from the University of Syracuse.

"This project will address key research objectives in the area of drug abuse-related HIV/AIDS and its consequences," Traube said. "Through refinement of a comprehensive theoretical model for explaining risk behavior, we will also be documenting the unique social, behavioral and demographic risk factors and health disparities associated with HIV/AIDS and drug abuse among young men who have sex with men."