Researchers to study HIV risk factors in transgender community

Transgender women, people born male but who identify as female, are among the groups at highest risk for HIV infection according to the Centers for Disease Control, and yet little is known about this most vulnerable population, particularly those who live in the South Florida area.

Researchers at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine hope to change that.

“They have done studies in New York, San Francisco, but so far nothing has been published here,” says Hector Perez-Gilbe, an instructor in the Department of Medicine, Family Medicine and Community Health and co-investigator of a study to determine the HIV risk factors within our local MTF (male to female) transgender community.

“We deal more with Latin American and Caribbean people. We want to see if the cultural, regional and socio-economic differences result in risk factors that are different from factors in other areas around the country.”

Thanks to a grant from the Miami Foundation – and in partnership with several non-profit organizations like Latinos Salud, Care Resources, Trans Miami, and T-House – the study will conduct three workshops for transgender women in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Participants attending the workshops will be asked to answer a detailed questionnaire that will look to identify risk factors. The study, though, is not only about acquiring information, it is about improving community health.

“Our goal is two-fold,” says principal investigator Dr. Cheryl Holder, who has devoted much of her career to working with HIV patients. “We’re not just doing a study, we want to give them information they can use for prevention, to empower themselves, to know where to seek help, and also hopefully the data will lead us to better programs, better outreach efforts.”

The educational portion of the workshops will be divided into three sections:

• Prevention through negotiation. Due to stigma and discrimination, many transgender women end up as sex workers and have little say in a sexual relationship. They will learn how to negotiate with their sexual partner.
• Prevention through medication. Participants will learn about currently available pre-exposure prophylaxis drugs to prevent HIV and where to find them.
• Communicating with their health care provider. Transgender women have special health needs. Attendees will learn how to address these with their doctor and access safety net health care facilities offering free services in our area.

The workshops will be held in Little Havana, Wilton Manors and Liberty City throughout the month of November, which is Transgender Awareness Month.

For more information, including times and locations, contact Hector Perez-Gilbe at hector.perezgilbe@fiu.edu or at 305-348-0680.