Syndemic Care for People Struggling with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) – Leveraging Direct to Inject (DTI) Strategies to Improve Care Integration
May 20, 2026 | 12-1pm PT
Presenter: Chris Bositis, MD, Clinical Director, UCSF National Clinician Consultation Center (NCCC)
In spite of recent gains made in reducing new HIV infections in the US as a whole, the rate of new infections in people with SUD remains unchanged, with several significant outbreaks the last 10 years highlighting the need for low-barrier approaches to address the SUD/infectious disease syndemic (a “syndemic” is when multiple conditions combine to create worse health outcomes than if they’d occurred separately).
The availability of novel, long-acting buprenorphine formulations is transforming the SUD treatment landscape and has the potential to serve as a model for expanding access to integrated HIV prevention and treatment services for this community as well.
This webinar will review key background concepts and epidemiology related to the SUD/ID syndemic, discuss the potential benefits of integrated care models in addressing this syndemic, and highlight how lessons learned from DTI strategies for SUD care can be leveraged to improve HIV prevention and treatment and care integration in general.