NIDA, ANRS Select Drug Abuse and HIV Research Fellow

Rubén Muñoz, Ph.D., a researcher and teacher at the Latino American Faculty of Social Science (FLACSO) of Ecuador, has been awarded a NIDA-ANRS Drug Abuse and HIV Research Fellowship. NIDA and the French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS) created the 12-month postdoctoral research fellowship to advance scientific understanding of the linkages between drug abuse and HIV while fostering multinational research. Dr. Muñoz will explore factors that influence individuals’ vulnerability to HIV infection in migratory venues where they engage in sexual practices while under the influence of alcohol and/or other noninjected drugs. The qualitative study will focus on the migratory patterns of 18- to 25-year old, undocumented, Central American men who have sex with men and/or women in Chiapas, Mexico. Dr. Muñoz will describe and analyze the participants’ social representations regarding HIV/AIDS, condom use as a means of protection against HIV/AIDS, modes of transmission of the disease, the health illness/care-control process, and unsafe sex while under the influence of alcohol and/or other noninjected drugs. Dr. Muñoz’s mentor is Kimberly Brouwer, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego.