About the HPTN | The HIV Prevention Trials Network

Our Mission

The HPTN is dedicated to the discovery and development of new and innovative research strategies to reduce the acquisition and transmission of HIV.

The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) is a worldwide collaborative clinical trials network that brings together investigators, ethicists, community and other partners to develop and test the safety and efficacy of interventions designed to prevent the acquisition and transmission of HIV. HPTN studies and evaluates new HIV prevention interventions and strategies in populations and geographical regions that bear a disproportionate burden of infection. The HPTN is committed to the highest ethical standards for its clinical trials and recognizes the importance of community engagement in all phases of the research process.

The HPTN research agenda is focused primarily on the use of integrated strategies: use of antiretroviral drugs (antiretroviral therapy and pre-exposure prophylaxis), interventions for substance abuse, particularly injection drug use, and behavioral risk reduction interventions with structural interventions.

The HPTN was established in 2000, building on the work of the HIV Network for Prevention Trials (HIVNET). HPTN’s Leadership and Operations Center (LOC), is based at FHI 360, Durham, North Carolina. The Laboratory Center (LC) is at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland and the Statistical and Data Management Center (SDMC) is housed within the Statistical Center for HIV/AIDS Research and Prevention (SCHARP) at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. The HPTN Modelling Centre, part of the SDMC, is a collaboration between the Department of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology at Imperial College London and SCHARP.

HPTN receives funding from three NIH institutes: the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Learn More:

HPTN Populations of Focus

HPTN Fact Sheet

The HPTN Leadership and Operations Center (LOC) – webinar

The HPTN Statistical and Data Management Center (SDMC) – webinar

Conversations with the HPTN

Lisa Haddad

Dr. Lisa Haddad, HPTN 104 protocol chair, is the medical director of the Center for Biomedical Research (CBR) at the Population Council and adjunct professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.

Nabila El-Bassel

Dr. Nabila El-Bassel, HPTN 094 study co-chair, is a professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work in New York. She is also director of the Social Intervention Group (SIG), director of the Columbia University Center for Healing of Opioid and Substance Use Disorders (CHOSEN), and director of the Columbia University Global Health Research Center of Central Asia (GHRCCA). Dr. El-Bassel has designed and tested many cutting-edge, multilevel HIV/AIDS and drug-use prevention and intervention models.

Lynda Emel

Dr. Lynda Emel is the HPTN Statistical and Data Management Center's (SDMC) associate director at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle. Her interests and expertise include effective data collection and management, clinical trial design and operations, research regulations, behavioral research methodology, and research ethics. Dr. Emel has more than 35 years of experience in clinical trial operations and data management and has worked in HIV prevention research since 1997.

Miria Chitukuta

Miria Chitukuta, a member of the HPTN 084 and HPTN 084-01 study protocol teams, is a social and behavioral scientist at the University of Zimbabwe Clinical Trials Research Centre (UZCTRC) in Harare, Zimbabwe. She has extensive experience coordinating and implementing qualitative research programs and has supported several Phase III HIV prevention clinical trials focusing on adolescent girls and women.