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  • PrEP, PEP & Pleasure: Tools of Sexual Liberation

    HIV Prevention Track

    This interactive presentation explores the intersection of sexual pleasure, HIV prevention, and liberation for communities of color. The Science of Sexuality and Pleasure, it reframes PrEP and PEP not just as biomedical tools, but as instruments of sexual agency, protection, and empowerment. Drawing on the imagery of chains, whips, handcuffs, and doxycycline, we assert that protection and pleasure are not mutually exclusive, but deeply intertwined. Through storytelling, case-based dialogue, and visual metaphors, we invite attendees to challenge conventional narratives that separate safety from desire.

  • Did You Forget to Ask About Sex and Drugs Again? Integrating Sexual Health, HIV, and Harm Reduction Into Mental Health Care

    HIV Prevention Track

    This session will introduce a pleasure-based approach to sexual heath and provide guidance on asking affirming, inclusive questions for patients who are queer, trans, poly, or engaged in kink. We will discuss current treatment options to managed decreased libido, painful frontal/vaginal sex, and erectile dysfunction. We will review opportunities for a collaborative treatment approach with mental health and primary care providers in combining mental health medications with HIV prevention and treatment medications, including injectables.

  • Building Bridges: A Community-Based Institution’s PrEP Program Success Story

    HIV Treatment Track

    This session explores the experience of Us Helping Us while equipping participants with the tools and strategies to overcome barriers to HIV prevention by developing effective, community-centered PrEP services. Facilitators will guide attendees through experiential learning and hands-on activities, demonstrating how to establish partnerships, develop tailored PrEP protocols, and address common challenges such as client engagement, stigma, and resource constraints in a resource-limited setting. By the end of this interactive session, participants will be prepared to transform their respective organizations into a "one-stop shop" that eliminates access barriers and contributes to the goal of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030.

  • We All Have a Role

    HIV Treatment Track

    This session explores the use of interactive storytelling within community theater as a tool to engage audiences on HIV and other STI prevention, focusing on PrEP usage and combating social determinants of health. The session examines and challenges the effectiveness of storytelling in raising awareness, changing attitudes, and promoting health behaviors among diverse communities.

  • Bridging the Gap Between Medical and Homeless Services through Patient Navigation: The NYU Langone Community Medicine Program Model

    HIV Treatment Track

    In 2023, 1,686 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in New York City, with Brooklyn reporting the highest rate and 19% concurrent AIDS diagnoses. To address these disparities, the NYU Langone Family Health Centers’ Community Medicine Program (CMP)—a collaboration with the NYC shelter system—integrated medical services directly within shelters to improve outcomes among unstably housed individuals. After piloting a part-time patient navigator to support HIV-positive patients with linkage and retention in care, the program demonstrated early success and secured a grant in December 2024 to expand into a status-neutral navigation model.

  • Critical Thinking and Cultural Affirmation (CTCA) Intervention

    HIV Treatment Track

    This session explores how CTCA blends peer-led support, expressive arts, cultural rituals, and critical consciousness to foster emotional wellness, increase HIV care retention, and support prevention. Participants will engage with evidence-based strategies and real-world examples demonstrating CTCA’s success in improving health outcomes while affirming identity and restoring community connection.

  • Working with Black Queer Men Who Use Crystal Meth: Culturally Responsive and Affirming Clinical Approaches

    Health Equity Track

    This presentation will provide an overview of the current landscape of crystal meth use among Black queer men and examine the contextual and cultural factors that contribute to substance use patterns and treatment disparities. Drawing from clinical experience, research, and community-based insights, this session highlights strategies for delivering affirming, culturally competent, and trauma-informed care.

  • A Simulation Exercise to Improve Sexual Health and Wellness Training for Nurse Practitioner Students

    HIV Prevention Track

    Evidence shows there are gaps in clinicians’ skills in providing comprehensive sexual health care across diverse populations. Simulation in clinical training has emerged as an effective pedagogy to facilitate student learning of knowledge, skills, and attitudes on a variety of healthcare topics. Faculty at the University of Rochester School of Nursing developed a sexual health simulation for three graduate nurse practitioner (NP) programs (Adult-Gerontology, Family, and Pediatric Primary Care).

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

    HIV Prevention Track

    While 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.

  • Breaking Barriers, Increasing Safety for Special Populations

    Drug User Health Track

    In 2022 Victory Programs opened its doors to The Victory Connector, a new drop in space in the Mass and Cass neighborhood. A neighborhood that was already home to methadone clinics, Boston Medical Center (the city hospital), Harm Reduction Providers and two homeless shelters. What could Victory Programs do that was different and meeting an unmet need?

  • Bridging Mental Health Equity and HIV Prevention for LGBTQ+ College Students: A Systematic Review and Public Health Framework for Appalachia

    LGBTQ Health Track

    LGBTQ+ students in U.S. colleges experience disproportionately high rates of mental health disorders and HIV vulnerability—risks exacerbated in rural and Appalachian regions by structural stigma, provider shortages, and limited-service access. Despite this convergence, few interventions integrate mental health and HIV prevention in campus settings.

  • From Neglect to Respect: Ending the HIV Endemic with Affirmation

    LGBTQ Health Track

    This session explores how affirmation-based intervention models — grounded in cultural pride, self-preservation, and community affirmation — are essential to ending the HIV endemic. Using a community engagement and harm reduction framework, we discuss the historical roots of disconnection, and how strategic investments in culturally affirming outreach and education are critical. We offer models and approaches that center community affirmation, mental health support, and intergenerational healing as HIV prevention tools.

  • 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.

  • 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).

  • 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.