Gilead’s NOVA RFP has awarded Dr. Jerika Lam $82,871 to fund a clinical trial study on HIV prevention to produce outcomes that will help put an end to the HIV epidemic- A virus that has taken an estimated 40M lives globally.

Dr. Lam’s award will fund her proposal, “Exploring barriers and facilitators to pharmacy-based HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis”, which will investigate the complex factors influencing the adoption of pharmacy-based PrEP to improve the utility of this potentially powerful intervention. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medications are highly effective in limiting the spread of HIV, yet only 18% of persons at risk are prescribed PrEP in the United States.

As a dedicated researcher with an interest in reducing the HIV stigma and the improvement of patient health outcomes, Dr. Lam sees PrEP as a pivotal key to the next stages in ending the HIV epidemic for good. “Over the past decades, scientists and clinicians have been working very hard to develop a vaccine for HIV, but we are not there yet,” she says. “In the meantime, we have very effective medications for HIV treatment and prevention. Patients who are at risk of contracting HIV can protect themselves from getting the virus when they take the PrEP medications.”

Dr. Lam will serve as PI, and the team will be comprised of faculty researchers from both Chapman University and the University of California, San Francisco.