Omar Martinez
University of Central Florida, FL·Public Health & Epidemiology
Most HIV prevention programs treat people as individuals, yet a great deal of HIV transmission happens between main partners, and decisions about condoms, testing, medication and sex outside the relationship are made jointly. Interventions designed specifically for adult couples have had little rigorous large-scale testing.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Social Science
- Topics
HIV prevention
couples-based intervention
randomized controlled trial
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2027
What they work on
- Test in a randomized controlled trial whether adult male couples assigned to a three-session couples-based HIV prevention intervention achieve a greater proportion of HIV-protected sexual acts than couples in a time- and attention-matched Wellness Promotion control condition.
- Enroll and follow 150 adult couples (300 individuals) from multiple US jurisdictions with elevated HIV prevalence, with assessments every three months across nine months, regardless of partners' HIV status.
- Measure HIV protection with a validated composite algorithm that counts condom use, pre-exposure prophylaxis, and treatment as prevention, covering sex both within and outside the primary partnership.
- Verify adherence to PrEP and antiretroviral therapy objectively using hair biomarkers together with self-administered HIV testing, alongside behavioral and psychosocial measures.
- Examine whether the intervention shifts the targeted behavioral mechanisms drawn from social cognitive theory and a relationship-oriented ecological framework, to inform recommendations for broader implementation.
More about the research
This project runs a randomized controlled trial of a couples-based HIV prevention intervention that combines biomedical tools with skill-building, and that enrolls couples regardless of whether either partner has HIV.
Why it matters
New HIV infections remain a public health priority, and many occur within main partnerships that individual-focused programs do not address. A trial showing whether a three-session, culturally tailored, remotely deliverable couples intervention increases sustained HIV protection — through condoms, PrEP, treatment adherence and routine testing — could give clinics and community programs a scalable option that serves couples of any HIV status and strengthens engagement across the HIV prevention and care continuum.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Dovie Watson
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career
Identify changeable provider-, practice-, and community-level factors that affect PrEP delivery in primary care, using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), a structured list of factors that shape program adoption.
Vivian Go
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test whether the brief alcohol intervention (BAI), counseling based on Motivational Interviewing and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, improves PrEP persistence and adherence in a randomized trial of 564 PrEP users with unhealthy drinking in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Kiyomi Tsuyuki
University of California-San Diego, CA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of CHAMPION, which combines the PrEPAPP app with CBT4CBT computer-based cognitive behavioral therapy, among 100 HIV-negative meth-using MSM, measured by retention and engagement against a waitlist control.
The school
University of Central Florida: 15 labs on PI Pages, $285M a year on research, 290 research doctorates a year.
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