Chinazo O Cunningham
Biographic Data
| ID | 1561095 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Chinazo O Cunningham |
| GIVEN NAMES | Chinazo |
| FAMILY NAME | O Cunningham |
| SIGNATURE | CUNNINGHAM C O |
| AFFILIATIONS | Albert Einstein College of Medicine |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7930-313X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 41 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
A Spatial Epidemiologic Analysis of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment in New York State
BACKGROUND: Opioid agonist treatments (OAT; methadone and buprenorphine) for opioid use disorder (OUD) reduce overdose death by more than 50%. Low population-level rates of OAT are missed opportunities to reduce OUD-related mortality. OBJECTIVE: We examined county-level OAT utilization patterns to guide state-level and county-level initiatives to improve equitable access and utilization in New York State (NYS). RESEARCH DESIGN: We calculated NYS …
Incarceration history and opioid use among adults living with HIV and chronic pain
Drug Overdose Death Following Substance Use Disorder Treatment Termination in New York City
Time to End Racial Disparities in Buprenorphine Access
Time to End Racial Disparities in Buprenorphine Access Henry Rosen MS, and Chinazo O. Cunningham MD, MS Affiliation Henry Rosen is the Chief of Staff at the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports, New York, NY. Chinazo O. Cunningham is the Commissioner of the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports and is a clinical professor of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY. CopyRightCorrespo…
U.S. state policies on opioid prescribing during the peak of the prescription opioid crisis
Availability of medical cannabis services by racial, social, and geographic characteristics of neighborhoods in New York
Background Within the United States (US), because racial/ethnic disparities in cannabis arrests continue, and cannabis legalization is expanding, understanding disparities in availability of legal cannabis services is important. Few studies report mixed findings regarding disparities in availability of legal cannabis services; none examined New York. We examined disparities in availability of medical cannabis services in New York. We hypothesized…
Daily and near-daily cannabis use is associated with HIV viral load suppression in people living with HIV who use cocaine
Disparities remain in HIV viral load (VL) suppression between people living with HIV (PLWH) who use cocaine and those who do not. It is not known how cannabis use affects VL suppression in PLWH who use cocaine. We evaluated the relationship between cannabis use and VL suppression among PLWH who use cocaine. We conducted a secondary data analysis of 119 baseline interviews from a randomized controlled trial in the Bronx, NY (6/2012 to 1/2017). Par…
Considerations for the Design of Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Interventions for Women
An expanded HIV screening strategy in the Emergency Department fails to identify most patients with undiagnosed infection
Screening for HIV in Emergency Departments (EDs) is recommended to address the problem of undiagnosed HIV. Serosurveys are an important method for estimating the prevalence of undiagnosed HIV and can provide insight into the effectiveness of an HIV screening strategy. We performed a blinded serosurvey in an ED offering non-targeted HIV screening to determine the proportion of patients with undiagnosed HIV who were diagnosed during their visit. Th…
A Pilot Study to Evaluate a Novel Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Peer Outreach and Navigation Intervention for Women at High Risk for HIV Infection
Evaluation of contingency management as a strategy to improve HCV linkage to care and treatment in persons attending needle and syringe programs
Minutes for health
Sustained retention in HIV medical care is a key health behavior for the long-term health of people living with HIV (PLWH). Approximately 60% of PLWH in the U.S. are poorly retained in HIV care, yet to date, the few available evidence-based retention-promoting interventions are resource and time intensive to implement. The current study describes the feasibility and acceptability of a theory-based retention-promoting intervention designed to meet…
Perceived access and barriers to care among illicit drug users and hazardous drinkers
The current study found that financial burdens of care, logistical difficulties in accessing care, and low social support were common challenges among individuals using illicit drugs and/or drinking hazardously. Addressing structural barriers and strengthening social support may be important strategies to improve health care among marginalized populations, regardless of HIV status
Co-calibration of two self-reported measures of adherence to antiretroviral therapy
Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is an important determinant of clinical success assessed in many HIV studies. Harmonizing adherence data from studies that use different measures is difficult without a co-calibration equation to convert between validated instruments. Our purpose was to co-calibrate two commonly used adherence measures: the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) questionnaire and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). We used robust l…
Emerging from the database shadows
Little is known about how HIV affects undocumented immigrants despite social and structural factors that may place them at risk of poor HIV outcomes. Our understanding of the clinical epidemiology of HIV-infected undocumented immigrants is limited by the challenges of determining undocumented immigration status in large data sets. We developed an algorithm to predict undocumented status using social security number (SSN) and insurance data. We re…
High HCV cure rates for people who use drugs treated with direct acting antiviral therapy at an urban primary care clinic
Increased HIV testing among hospitalized patients who declined testing in the emergency department
Health-care systems have serial encounters with many of the same patients across care settings; however, few studies have examined the role of reoffering HIV testing after a patient declines. We assessed whether an intervention to increase HIV testing among hospitalized patients was associated with increased testing among those who declined a test while in the Emergency Department (ED). We studied 8-week periods pre- and post-implementation of an…
Pain is Associated with Missed Clinic Visits Among HIV-Positive Women
Primary Care Physicians’ Willingness to Prescribe HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis for People who Inject Drugs
Increasing Benzodiazepine Prescriptions and Overdose Mortality in the United States, 1996–2013
Objectives. To describe trends in benzodiazepine prescriptions and overdose mortality involving benzodiazepines among US adults. Methods. We examined data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and multiple-cause-of-death data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results. Between 1996 and 2013, the percentage of adults filling a benzodiazepine prescription increased from 4.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.8%, 4.5%) to 5.6% …
General and health-related Internet use among an urban, community-based sample of HIV-positive women
Internet-based HIV interventions are increasingly common, although little focus has been on HIV-positive women. To understand the feasibility of using the Internet to deliver behavioral interventions to HIV-positive women, we sought to describe patterns of Internet use for general and health-related purposes and to explore differences between Internet-using and non-using women. From February 2014 to April 2014, 103 women were recruited at six com…
Intersectionality of internalized HIV stigma and internalized substance use stigma
We adopted an intersectionality framework and examined whether the relationship between internalized HIV stigma and depressive symptoms is moderated by internalized substance use stigma. A total of 85 people living with HIV with a history of substance use in the Bronx, New York, completed a survey. Results revealed evidence of moderation: Participants who internalized HIV stigma experienced greater depressive symptoms only if they also internaliz…
Medical Cannabis Laws and Opioid Analgesic Overdose Mortality in the United States, 1999-2010
IMPORTANCE: Opioid analgesic overdose mortality continues to rise in the United States, driven by increases in prescribing for chronic pain. Because chronic pain is a major indication for medical cannabis, laws that establish access to medical cannabis may change overdose mortality related to opioid analgesics in states that have enacted them. OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between the presence of state medical cannabis laws and opioid a…
Development of an electronic medical record-based algorithm to identify patients with unknown HIV status
Individuals with unknown HIV status are at risk for undiagnosed HIV, but practical and reliable methods for identifying these individuals have not been described. We developed an algorithm to identify patients with unknown HIV status using data from the electronic medical record (EMR) of a large health care system. We developed EMR-based criteria to classify patients as having known status (HIV-positive or HIV-negative) or unknown status and appl…
Profiting and Providing Less Care
BACKGROUND: Opioid use disorders are frequently associated with medical and psychiatric comorbidities (eg, HIV infection and depression), as well as social problems (eg, lack of health insurance). Comprehensive services addressing these conditions improve outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To compare the proportion of for-profit, nonprofit, and public opioid treatment programs offering comprehensive services, which are not mandated by government regulations. D…
Intersectionality of internalized HIV stigma and internalized substance use stigma
We adopted an intersectionality framework and examined whether the relationship between internalized HIV stigma and depressive symptoms is moderated by internalized substance use stigma. A total of 85 people living with HIV with a history of substance use in the Bronx, New York, completed a survey. Results revealed evidence of moderation: Participants who internalized HIV stigma experienced greater depressive symptoms only if they also internaliz…
Increasing Benzodiazepine Prescriptions and Overdose Mortality in the United States, 1996–2013
Objectives. To describe trends in benzodiazepine prescriptions and overdose mortality involving benzodiazepines among US adults. Methods. We examined data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and multiple-cause-of-death data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results. Between 1996 and 2013, the percentage of adults filling a benzodiazepine prescription increased from 4.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.8%, 4.5%) to 5.6% …
Assessment of a Medical Outreach Program to Improve Access to HIV Care Among Marginalized Individuals
Marginalized populations are disproportionately affected by HIV, yet they have poor access to health services. Outreach programs focus on improving access, but few are evaluated. We assessed a medical outreach program targeting unstably housed, HIV-infected individuals. We extracted data from 2003–2005 to examine whether keeping medical appointments was associated with patient and program characteristics. Patients kept appointments more frequentl…
Health Services Utilization for People with HIV Infection
BACKGROUND: Many persons with HIV infection do not receive consistent ambulatory medical care and are excluded from studies of patients in medical care. However, these hard-to-reach groups are important to study because they may be in greatest need of services. OBJECTIVE: This study compared the sociodemographic, clinical, and health care utilization characteristics of a multisite sample of HIV-positive persons who were hard to reach with a natio…
HIV status, trust in health care providers, and distrust in the health care system among Bronx women
Trust in health care providers and the health care system are essential. This study examined factors associated with trust in providers and distrust in the health care system among minority HIV-positive and -negative women. Interviews were conducted and laboratory tests performed with 102 women from the Women's Interagency HIV Study Bronx site. Interviews collected information about trust in providers, distrust in the system, substance use, menta…
The Evolution of HIV illness representation among marginally housed persons
Many HIV-infected marginally housed individuals have difficulty engaging in health care. To investigate HIV health-related behaviour, 14 in-depth interviews with marginally housed HIV-infected individuals were conducted and analysed utilizing standard qualitative methodologies. The analysis was based on the Illness Representation Model, which describes five conceptual dimensions of illness: identification; cause; timeline; management; and consequ…
Does Patient–Provider Racial/Ethnic Concordance Influence Ratings of Trust in People with HIV Infection
Assessment of a Medical Outreach Program to Improve Access to HIV Care Among Marginalized Individuals
Marginalized populations are disproportionately affected by HIV, yet they have poor access to health services. Outreach programs focus on improving access, but few are evaluated. We assessed a medical outreach program targeting unstably housed, HIV-infected individuals. We extracted data from 2003–2005 to examine whether keeping medical appointments was associated with patient and program characteristics. Patients kept appointments more frequentl…
A Comparison of HIV Health Services Utilization Measures in a Marginalized Population
BACKGROUND: In studies examining the use of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) health services, researchers often use subjects' self-reported measures. Agreement between a subject's self-reports and medical records in marginalized populations is uncertain, yet important to understand, as this population is disproportionately affected by HIV. METHODS: We sought to examine agreement between self-report and medical record health care utilization mea…
Medical Cannabis Laws and Opioid Analgesic Overdose Mortality in the United States, 1999-2010
IMPORTANCE: Opioid analgesic overdose mortality continues to rise in the United States, driven by increases in prescribing for chronic pain. Because chronic pain is a major indication for medical cannabis, laws that establish access to medical cannabis may change overdose mortality related to opioid analgesics in states that have enacted them. OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between the presence of state medical cannabis laws and opioid a…
Development of an electronic medical record-based algorithm to identify patients with unknown HIV status
Individuals with unknown HIV status are at risk for undiagnosed HIV, but practical and reliable methods for identifying these individuals have not been described. We developed an algorithm to identify patients with unknown HIV status using data from the electronic medical record (EMR) of a large health care system. We developed EMR-based criteria to classify patients as having known status (HIV-positive or HIV-negative) or unknown status and appl…
Profiting and Providing Less Care
BACKGROUND: Opioid use disorders are frequently associated with medical and psychiatric comorbidities (eg, HIV infection and depression), as well as social problems (eg, lack of health insurance). Comprehensive services addressing these conditions improve outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To compare the proportion of for-profit, nonprofit, and public opioid treatment programs offering comprehensive services, which are not mandated by government regulations. D…
General and health-related Internet use among an urban, community-based sample of HIV-positive women
Internet-based HIV interventions are increasingly common, although little focus has been on HIV-positive women. To understand the feasibility of using the Internet to deliver behavioral interventions to HIV-positive women, we sought to describe patterns of Internet use for general and health-related purposes and to explore differences between Internet-using and non-using women. From February 2014 to April 2014, 103 women were recruited at six com…
Intersectionality of internalized HIV stigma and internalized substance use stigma
We adopted an intersectionality framework and examined whether the relationship between internalized HIV stigma and depressive symptoms is moderated by internalized substance use stigma. A total of 85 people living with HIV with a history of substance use in the Bronx, New York, completed a survey. Results revealed evidence of moderation: Participants who internalized HIV stigma experienced greater depressive symptoms only if they also internaliz…
Increased HIV testing among hospitalized patients who declined testing in the emergency department
Health-care systems have serial encounters with many of the same patients across care settings; however, few studies have examined the role of reoffering HIV testing after a patient declines. We assessed whether an intervention to increase HIV testing among hospitalized patients was associated with increased testing among those who declined a test while in the Emergency Department (ED). We studied 8-week periods pre- and post-implementation of an…
Pain is Associated with Missed Clinic Visits Among HIV-Positive Women
Primary Care Physicians’ Willingness to Prescribe HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis for People who Inject Drugs
Increasing Benzodiazepine Prescriptions and Overdose Mortality in the United States, 1996–2013
Objectives. To describe trends in benzodiazepine prescriptions and overdose mortality involving benzodiazepines among US adults. Methods. We examined data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and multiple-cause-of-death data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results. Between 1996 and 2013, the percentage of adults filling a benzodiazepine prescription increased from 4.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.8%, 4.5%) to 5.6% …
Co-calibration of two self-reported measures of adherence to antiretroviral therapy
Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is an important determinant of clinical success assessed in many HIV studies. Harmonizing adherence data from studies that use different measures is difficult without a co-calibration equation to convert between validated instruments. Our purpose was to co-calibrate two commonly used adherence measures: the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) questionnaire and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). We used robust l…
Emerging from the database shadows
Little is known about how HIV affects undocumented immigrants despite social and structural factors that may place them at risk of poor HIV outcomes. Our understanding of the clinical epidemiology of HIV-infected undocumented immigrants is limited by the challenges of determining undocumented immigration status in large data sets. We developed an algorithm to predict undocumented status using social security number (SSN) and insurance data. We re…
High HCV cure rates for people who use drugs treated with direct acting antiviral therapy at an urban primary care clinic
Minutes for health
Sustained retention in HIV medical care is a key health behavior for the long-term health of people living with HIV (PLWH). Approximately 60% of PLWH in the U.S. are poorly retained in HIV care, yet to date, the few available evidence-based retention-promoting interventions are resource and time intensive to implement. The current study describes the feasibility and acceptability of a theory-based retention-promoting intervention designed to meet…
Perceived access and barriers to care among illicit drug users and hazardous drinkers
The current study found that financial burdens of care, logistical difficulties in accessing care, and low social support were common challenges among individuals using illicit drugs and/or drinking hazardously. Addressing structural barriers and strengthening social support may be important strategies to improve health care among marginalized populations, regardless of HIV status
Evaluation of contingency management as a strategy to improve HCV linkage to care and treatment in persons attending needle and syringe programs
An expanded HIV screening strategy in the Emergency Department fails to identify most patients with undiagnosed infection
Screening for HIV in Emergency Departments (EDs) is recommended to address the problem of undiagnosed HIV. Serosurveys are an important method for estimating the prevalence of undiagnosed HIV and can provide insight into the effectiveness of an HIV screening strategy. We performed a blinded serosurvey in an ED offering non-targeted HIV screening to determine the proportion of patients with undiagnosed HIV who were diagnosed during their visit. Th…
A Pilot Study to Evaluate a Novel Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Peer Outreach and Navigation Intervention for Women at High Risk for HIV Infection
Daily and near-daily cannabis use is associated with HIV viral load suppression in people living with HIV who use cocaine
Disparities remain in HIV viral load (VL) suppression between people living with HIV (PLWH) who use cocaine and those who do not. It is not known how cannabis use affects VL suppression in PLWH who use cocaine. We evaluated the relationship between cannabis use and VL suppression among PLWH who use cocaine. We conducted a secondary data analysis of 119 baseline interviews from a randomized controlled trial in the Bronx, NY (6/2012 to 1/2017). Par…
Considerations for the Design of Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Interventions for Women
Medicine (31 works) · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk (21 works) · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions (20 works) · Family medicine (17 works) · Psychiatry (16 works) · Internal Medicine (14 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Environmental health (9 works) · Nursing (8 works) · Opioid Use Disorder Treatment (8 works)