Wandering through a graveyard on a genealogical expedition with her father, a young Lisa Eaton noticed tombstone after tombstone of young mothers and their babies from centuries ago.<\/p>\n
Her father told her: \u201cWe\u2019re just getting out of the dark ages of medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n
These early adventures had a lasting impact on Eaton who has since dedicated her life as a researcher and professor of human development and family studies at the University of Connecticut to combating the HIV\/AIDS epidemic among black gay\/bisexual men in the southeastern United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe capacity for a scientist to impact public health was really awe-inspiring,\u201d Eaton says. \u201cI\u2019ve always been captivated by how healthcare advances could be affected for social good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eaton began her career studying maternal health issues in South Africa, but shifted her focus onto the HIV crisis among black gay\/bisexual men in the US upon realizing the scope of the epidemic.<\/p>\n
In her early work, the HIV epidemic among gay\/bisexual black men appeared unbelievable, to the point that Eaton was sure her data were wrong. She found 30 to 40 percent of the black gay\/bisexual men in Atlanta reported living with HIV. This is compared to the national average of less than one percent of all adults.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very surprising to me how the HIV epidemic was unfolding in the US,\u201d Eaton says. \u201cLike a lot of people, I didn\u2019t realize the extent of the epidemic we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around the same time as Eaton\u2019s original study, the Center for Disease Control released similar findings. The CDC estimates half of all black gay\/bisexual men in America will be diagnosed with HIV during their lifetime if current transmission trends continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a public health crisis unfolding before our eyes and what are we doing to address it?\u201d Eaton asks.<\/p>\n
The answer to this question can be found, in part, in Eaton\u2019s own work combatting the stigma and barriers to receiving health care for HIV.<\/p>\n
HIV has long been a highly stigmatized disease; the stigma is more consequential than the disease itself as it results in a barrier to highly effective treatment. The persistent negative connotations associated with this disease lead many to be reluctant to acknowledge and disclose their diagnosis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no way to access healthcare treatment without disclosing HIV status,\u201d Eaton says. \u201cWhether it\u2019s only to a health care provider or not, you need to have some recognition of having HIV to receive treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The process of treating HIV is a cascade that begins with diagnosis and flows to downstream health care, and being prescribed and taking medication until the virus eventually becomes non-transmittable.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, more than ever, we are very highly motivated to get everyone on treatment, not only to help them, but to prevent the spread of the virus,\u201d Eaton says.<\/p>\n
Black gay\/bisexual men do not engage in risky behaviors (like having condomless sex) more than other communities at elevated risk for HIV infection. In fact, white gay\/bisexual men are equally likely to engage in these behaviors and yet their rates of HIV infection are lower.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the epidemic we have in the US today in large part because of racism,\u201d Eaton says. \u201cIt\u2019s important to recognize that the history of racism in our country has led us to a place where unequal access to health care and disparity in healthcare fuel disease in marginalized populations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of the emphasis on HIV research is on biomedical advancement; Eaton\u2019s work, which is primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health<\/a>, addresses a critical need in HIV treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is this huge gap between biomedical technology available to end the epidemic and our ability to implement it,\u201d Eaton says. \u201cIf we\u2019re not able to reach those in greatest need of care we will not affect the epidemic.\u201d<\/p>\n Eaton emphasizes the importance of the health care system meeting the needs of the community which it serves. One project she is currently working on brings HIV\/STD testing and care right to people\u2019s homes and walks them through the process remotely.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re flipping the system so we can meet as many of the needs of as many people as we can where the individual is physically located,\u201d Eaton says.<\/p>\n Eaton is also studying the use of a daily pill called PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) that can protect against HIV infection. The pill was approved by the FDA in 2012 and has been shown to be highly effective when taken correctly.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s so remarkable about PrEP is that it is very highly effective. It has the potential to really impact the HIV epidemic,\u201d Eaton says. \u201cThe big problem isn\u2019t that we don\u2019t have the tools to end the epidemic, it\u2019s that we aren\u2019t able to make the tools accessible to groups at greatest risk for HIV.\u201d<\/p>\n In the population with which Eaton works, lack of access and non-adherence are major concerns. One of Eaton\u2019s intervention projects from several years ago was adopted by the CDC for implementation in 2015. \u201cThink Twice<\/a>\u201d addresses common misperceptions about \u201csafe\u201d behaviors that provide a false sense of security for men at elevated risk for HIV\/STDs.<\/p>\n Using mini graphic novels, Think Twice helps individuals realize practices such as only having sex with HIV-negative partners is not a 100 percent effective prevention method. HIV has a \u201cwindow period\u201d in which infection rates are especially high before the virus will have prompted enough of an immune response to be detectable as HIV screening tests check for antibodies produced to fight the infection, not the virus itself.<\/p>\n Despite the grim statistics and lack of national attention on this issue, Eaton\u2019s work has already helped many members of this population and its implementation continues to grow.<\/p>\n “When I go to the bigger picture it can be overwhelming because I can\u2019t take a magic wand and give everyone equal access to health care in this country,\u201d says Eaton. \u201cI do, however, remind myself of the collective efforts of many people who do this work and the impact that has had on the epidemic. It\u2019s remarkable how far we have come, and with sustained effort, where we can go.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Follow UConn Research on <\/em>Twitter<\/a><\/em> &<\/u> LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Researcher Lisa Eaton has dedicated her career to combating the HIV\/AIDS epidemic among gay\/bisexual black men in the southeastern United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":143535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2705,2226,2076],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2140],"class_list":["post-143534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sexual-violence-research","category-clas","category-research"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 01:19:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239494,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143534\/revisions\/239494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/143535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143534"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=143534"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=143534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}