WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18

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

THURSDAY, MARCH 19

9:00 – 10:30am: PLENARY SESSION
10:45am – 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.

Studio D

Studio D

Sessions at this room

Today

  • EmpowHERed Resilience: Advancing Black Women’s Health Together

    Studio D

    EmpowHERed Resilience is a transformative storytelling experience and institute for Black women to gather, reflect, and heal. Through a four-part video series, participants engage with lived stories across HIV prevention, care, and long-term wellness, uplifting sexual health and honoring the full spectrum of Black women’s experiences. This session fosters connection, affirms lived wisdom, and builds supportive networks, empowering Black women to move forward with strength, purpose, and possibility.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    Taking the Test Home: NKY Health’s Inclusive Approach to HIV Self Test Access

    Studio D
    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionThis presentation offers an in-depth exploration of NKY Health's expansive HIV self-test distribution program, highlighting its multifaceted approach to making test kits readily available throughout the Northern Kentucky community. Our primary goal has been to maximize reach, ensuring these vital resources get into the hands of as many people as possible.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    MSM Perspectives on Hypothetical Novel HIV Testing and Linkage Technology in South Carolina

    Studio D
    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionMen who have sex with men (MSM) in the U.S. South face a disproportionate burden of HIV yet remain underserved in traditional prevention and care pathways. Stigma, structural inequities, and limited access to culturally competent services contribute to poor engagement across the HIV care continuum. These barriers are exacerbated by resource-constrained settings such as the rural South.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    Sniffies: Not Just for Hook-ups — How Your Prevention Department Can Expand Outreach in Real Time

    Studio D
    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionThis session will introduce some of the dating apps people are using - specifically Sniffies - and outlining how agencies can use the software to establish patterns for sexual activity in the immediate area and develop strategies to outreach options in real time, ultimately leading to an increase in PrEP and STI prevention uptake across all demographics.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    From Neglect to Respect: Ending the HIV Endemic with Affirmation

    Studio D
    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionThis 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.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

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

    Studio D
    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionThis 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.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    PrEP, PEP & Pleasure: Tools of Sexual Liberation

    Studio D
    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionThis 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.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

    Response to Syndemics

    Studio D
    HIV Prevention Track

    Power of PreventionStayWell Health Center serves as a leading responder to the overlapping syndemics of HIV, hepatitis C, STIs, and social determinants of health in the Waterbury, Connecticut metro area. Through a status-neutral approach, StayWell ensures that all individuals—regardless of HIV status—are connected to comprehensive prevention or treatment services without stigma or delay.

  • Forward in SYNChronicity for HIV Prevention

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

    Studio D
    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 Prevention

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

    Studio D
    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!

    Studio D
    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.

Accreditation, Credit, and Support

Information on credits offered to SYNC participants for attending institutes, sessions, and plenaries — live or in-person — is available here.

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.