WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18

11:00am – 6:00pm: INSTITUTES
1:00 – 5:00pm: HIV PNC INSTITUTE
3:00 – 5:00pm: HIV PCP INSTITUTE
4:00 – 5:30pm: TRACK SESSIONS

THURSDAY, MARCH 19

9:00 – 10:30am: PLENARY SESSION
10:30am – 12:15pm: TRACK SESSIONS
12:30 – 2:00pm: LUNCH PLENARY
2:15 – 3:45pm: TRACK SESSIONS
4:00 – 5:30pm: TRACK SESSIONS

FRIDAY, MARCH 20

9:00 – 10:30am: PLENARY SESSION
10:45am – 12:15pm: TRACK SESSIONS
12:30 – 2:00pm: LUNCH PLENARY

This schedule is preliminary and subject to change.

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Sessions

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  • From Harm Reduction to Gender Joy: Advancing LGBTQ Health Equity Through Affirming Care for Transgender Youth

    LGBTQ Health Track

    Using Oregon’s All-Payer All-Claims dataset (2016–2023), this analysis examines GAC utilization among transgender and gender-diverse adolescents, identifying disparities by insurance type, age, and sex assigned at birth—even within one of the nation’s most affirming policy environments. Quantitative findings are contextualized with lived experience: the journey of raising a ten-year-old transgender son, illustrating, through narrative and video excerpts, how timely, evidence-based, and affirming care fosters gender euphoria, confidence, safety, and family cohesion.

  • SYNCing Integrated Care: Advancing LGBTQ+ Health and HIV Prevention through the CCBHC Model in a Community Behavioral Health Setting

    LGBTQ Health Track

    Hillcrest Children and Family Center, a community-based behavioral health organization in Washington, DC, implemented the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model to expand access and reduce disparities among underserved populations. Serving largely Black and LGBTQ+ communities, Hillcrest’s CCBHC initiative provides an integrated platform for behavioral health, primary care, and prevention services. This framework has strengthened culturally responsive care and enabled the agency to leverage programs, including Ryan White–funded HIV prevention and treatment, to advance health equity and justice.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for Drug User Health

    Cool Kids Carry Narcan: A Rural Community Model for Equitable Naloxone Access and Overdose Prevention

    Drug User Health Track

    Cool Kids Carry Narcan is a rural overdose prevention initiative led by Berkshire Harm Reduction, a program of Berkshire Health Systems in western Massachusetts. Designed to address geographic and racial inequities in naloxone access, the project currently installs and maintains 124 public NaloxBoxes while pairing distribution with community training and stigma-reduction campaigns.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for Drug User Health

    Empowerment Circle: A Peer-Led Recovery Support Group Integrating HIV Prevention, Harm Reduction, and Whole-Community Wellness

    Drug User Health Track

    The Empowerment Circle is a peer-led recovery support group serving individuals impacted by substance use, trauma, HIV, and systemic health disparities across the broader community—including LGBTQ+ populations, returning citizens, older adults, and people with lived experience of homelessness. What makes this model unique is its inclusive approach: while centering recovery, it intentionally brings together diverse participants in a shared healing space.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for Drug User Health

    Successes in Diagnosis and Linkage Where HIV and Viral Hepatitis Testing Programming Occurs Within a Syringe Service Program (SSP)

    Drug User Health Track

    Queen City Harm Reduction (QCHR) is the only organization expressly centered around harm reduction principles and syringe access in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, where the city of Charlotte is based, and seeks to minimize the harms associated with substance use and other intersecting conditions such as sex work, justice involvement, and homelessness. QCHR proactively educates peers and the community on drug user health promoting prevention of infectious disease, overdose, and compassionate care.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for Drug User Health

    The Healing Room: Yoga and Other Alternative Healing Modalities as Tools for Harm Reduction

    Drug User Health Track

    This session explores the emerging evidence supporting yoga and other healing modalities as a complementary harm reduction tool, particularly in underserved or high-risk populations. Drawing on interdisciplinary research, community-based programs, and trauma-informed frameworks, it underscores alternative healing modalities potential to serve not as a replacement for clinical treatment but as an accessible, empowering adjunct that supports individual agency, healing, and long-term well-being.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    Breaking Barriers in HIV Prevention: Advancing PrEP Research While Rebuilding Trust in Black Communities

    HIV Prevention Track

    This presentation explores the evolution of HIV prevention through the perspective of a Black woman, Community Health Advocate, and clinical research participant deeply engaged in advancing PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) innovation. While biomedical advancements from daily oral PrEP to long acting injectables have expanded prevention options, Black communities remain underrepresented in research and disproportionately impacted by persistent barriers to access. Through a lived-experience narrative, this session examines how medical mistrust, historical trauma, and unequal power dynamics shape community attitudes toward clinical research and preventive care.

  • Enhancing Service Delivery by Improving Referral Completion Rates for SDOH Needs

    LGBTQ Health Track

    Closing the loop on Social Determinants of Health ensures that referrals to supportive services such as housing, food and mental health are not only initiated but also completed, tracked, and resolved, This approach strengthens care coordination, reduces barriers to retention, and promotes health equity by addressing non-medical factors that impact overall well being.

  • From Position Paper to Advocacy: The Kentucky Nurses Association LGBTQ+ SNIPg (Special Nursing Interest Practice Group): Leadership Through Advocacy

    LGBTQ Health Track

    As a nation, we had made great strides in protecting the basic rights of LGBTQ+ persons including their access to appropriate, quality care. For Kentucky LGBTQ+ persons, the passage of Kentucky SB 150 in 2023, progressively began the stripping away of these rights thus putting their well-being and even their lives at risk.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Care and Treatment

    Understanding Social Drivers of Health among People Living with HIV with Unsuppressed Viral Loads Visiting the Emergency Department

    HIV Care and Treatment Track

    Despite the wide availability of antiretroviral therapy (ART) as an effective treatment option for HIV, a substantial portion of people with HIV (PWH) in the United States remain out of care or inconsistently take their medications, leading to an unsuppressed viral load despite diagnosis—a critical gap that undermines both individual health outcomes and public health objectives.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for Hepatitis C

    Hep C Crash Course: Managing Hepatitis C Treatment in Primary Care Settings

    Hepatitis C Track

    This session provides a five-step roadmap for integrating HCV care into primary care practice. Attendees will learn how to conduct reflex-based screening, stage fibrosis using labs or portable tools, select treatment regimens aligned with AASLD-IDSA guidelines, navigate medication access barriers, and monitor patients through to sustained virologic response (SVR).

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for Drug User Health

    Leading from the Body: A New Paradigm for Trauma-Informed Leadership

    Drug User Health Track

    In today’s climate of burnout, fear, and fragmentation, leadership requires more than strategy—it calls for presence, relational courage, and embodiment. Leading from the Body introduces a trauma-informed leadership model rooted in somatic awareness and relational intelligence. This approach recognizes that trauma is not only cognitive—it is emotional, non-verbal, and stored in the nervous system. As such, healing and leadership must begin in the body. This interactive session explores how lived experience and embodied presence shape culture, relationships, and organizational change.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    Public-Private Partnerships: A Cost-Saving Model to Efficiently End Multiple Public Health Epidemics

    HIV Prevention Track

    Congenital syphilis is a completely preventable condition that imposes a significant clinical and financial burden on our current strained healthcare system. In response to rising infection rates in Miami-Dade County, Homestead Hospital (HH) implemented an innovative, Electronic Health Record-integrated Syphilis Screening Algorithm in 2019, embedded within its existing routine HIV and Hepatitis C testing infrastructure.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    Design and Early Findings from the Empower Theater Arts Peer Educator Program

    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionWhile a myriad of health education and prevention programs exist in the community and on HBCU college campuses, most women are unaware of these resources and, most importantly, the availability and effectiveness of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), despite being at greater risk of HIV. Black Women and HIV: Empowerment through Engagement, Education, and Enrichment (“Empower”) is an HBCU led, collaborative, multi-year initiative committed to advancing HIV prevention and sexual health among Black women by implementing culturally responsive education and community engagement.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    Leveraging Health Promotion Advocates in the Emergency Department to Expand HIV Testing: Findings from a Clinical Program

    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionEmergency departments (EDs) serve as a critical access point for medically underserved populations, including individuals with substance use disorders (SUD), co-occurring psychiatric disorders (COD), and those at elevated risk for HIV. This presentation aims to describe a publicly funded HIV prevention and health services program co-located in two affiliated urban Midwestern EDs, to describe any differences among patients who did and did not receive HIV testing, and to discuss strategies for leveraging Health Promotion Advocates (HPAs) in ED settings.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Care and Treatment

    Frequent Participation in Ryan White Services Improves Time to HIV Viral Suppression Among Persons with HIV Monoinfection and Persons with HIV and HCV Coinfection in Philadelphia

    HIV Care and Treatment Track

    Hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection is associated with poor health outcomes for persons with HIV (PWH). Although higher HIV viral suppression rates have been reported among PWH who participate in Ryan White services, studies have not assessed effects on HCV coinfection.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    Reimagining the Pharmacy Workforce: Training the Next Generation for Public Health Impact

    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionThis session explores innovative approaches to pharmacy workforce development that are reshaping how we train, mentor, and deploy future pharmacy professionals. As healthcare shifts toward community-based, prevention-focused models, there is an urgent need to prepare students, residents, and early-career pharmacists to lead in areas like HIV prevention, chronic disease management, and health equity. Drawing on the success of the Legacy Pharmacy Internship Program and AmeriCorps Pharmacy Advocate initiative, we highlight scalable strategies for embedding learners in high-impact roles that serve marginalized populations.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    Unifying HIV Service Delivery: Pharmacy-Based HIV Prevention and Treatment Services

    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionHeather Ivy Society, Faebris Medical, Clinipharm Global Health, and Trustee Drugs present an innovative project aimed at transforming HIV care in Atlanta. The collaboration introduces an alternative care model to mitigate HIV disparities in a high-impact area. Our program initiative, The End Starts With “U” - Unifying HIV Service Delivery, introduces a pharmacist-led care model that includes HIV testing coupled with advanced HIV prevention and treatment.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    AI Ready: Establishing a Responsible and Practical Approach to Artificial Intelligence in HIV Care and Prevention

    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionMany healthcare organizations are exploring the use of artificial intelligence to improve care and streamline operations but often face uncertainty about how to begin. This session provides a clear and practical entry point for HIV service systems that want to integrate AI responsibly, particularly those working with limited resources.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    Person-Centered Learning in HIV Prevention: Leveraging Instructional Design

    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionThis session explores how person-centered instructional design can improve HIV prevention efforts by enhancing engagement, reducing stigma, and supporting provider readiness. Using examples like PrEP and DoxyPEP, we’ll show how culturally responsive, empathetic eLearning can bridge the implementation gap and empower diverse learners to make informed, stigma-free decisions.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    PrEP Talk: Building Virtual Community Action in Hillsborough County, FL

    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionIn 2021, 78.2% of the 294 new HIV cases in Hillsborough County occurred among males, with male-to-male sexual contact as the leading transmission mode. Despite Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) reducing HIV risk by 99%, accessibility remains a barrier. The Florida Department of Health (FDOH) Health Disparities Coalition PrEP Task Force applied a virtual adaptation of the Community-Based Prevention Marketing (CBPM) framework to develop an intervention addressing PrEP uptake.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    Test UP! PrEP! Level Up!

    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionTest Up! PrEP Up! Level Up! Now You’re In the Game! The Maryland Activation—is a high-impact, community-driven initiative led by Heart to Hand, Inc. in partnership with Walgreens and regional health organizations across Prince George’s, Montgomery, and Charles Counties. Held June 27–28, 2025, in recognition of National HIV Testing Day, the activation expands access to free, confidential HIV testing, PrEP education, and immediate linkage to care through trusted community and pharmacy settings.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Care and Treatment

    Justice Is the Intervention: Redesigning Harm Reduction within Black Communities

    HIV Care and Treatment Track

    The decline in drug-related fatalities in New Jersey over the past three years reflects progress in harm reduction, yet racial disparities remain stark. Black and Hispanic communities continue to face disproportionate rates of drug-related deaths—51.4 and 38.9 per 100,000, respectively—compared to white residents. The Black Lives Matter Paterson Harm Reduction Center and Mobile Unit provides resources, care, and support to neglected populations through culturally responsive, Black-centered mobile outreach.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    Reentry as Harm Reduction: Centering Public Health in the Transition from Incarceration

    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionThis presentation will explore the intersection of reentry, HIV prevention, harm reduction, and LGBTQ health through the lens of a community-based model developed by Voices for a Second Chance (VSC), a nonprofit based in Washington, DC. VSC’s holistic approach combines trauma-informed case management, peer-led support, and cross-sector collaboration to support justice-involved individuals as they transition back into the community. By meeting basic needs and providing comprehensive health navigation, the model reduces both health risks and the likelihood of recidivism.

Commercial Support Acknowledgement

This conference is supported, in part, by independent educational grants from ineligible companies. A full list of supporters is available here. All accredited content has been developed and delivered in accordance with the ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence and the criteria of Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education™, and is free of commercial bias.