MCHD staff participate and present at international HIV conference in Puerto Rico 06.23.25

June 23, 2025

MCHD staff participate and present at international HIV conference in Puerto Rico

MOBILE, Ala. — The Mobile County Health Department (MCHD) proudly announces the participation of several staff members at the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC) CONTINUUM 2025 Conference. It took place this month in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The representatives of MCHD were Cherrite Peterson, Public Health Administrator II; Michelle Bernard, Clinical Administrator for the Ryan White Program; Mason Wade, Nurse Practitioner; Dr. Tommie Walker, Epidemiologist; along with Tia Taylor and Elexus Westry with the STD Surveillance Team.

The CONTINUUM 2025 Conference is a globally recognized event that brings together healthcare providers, public health professionals, and researchers committed to advancing innovative strategies across the HIV prevention and care continuum. This year’s conference placed a particular focus on accelerating equitable care and improving outcomes for people living with HIV in underserved communities.

MCHD’s presence at this prestigious conference underscores the agency’s leadership and dedication to combating HIV in Alabama and the Deep South — regions disproportionately affected by the epidemic. Notably, Peterson and Bernard co-presented a research poster titled “Pre-Implementation Assessments of a Combination HIV Testing, Linkage, and Rapid Treatment Initiation Through Academic-Public Health-Community Partnerships to Improve HIV Outcomes in the Southern U.S.”

The poster, developed in collaboration with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), highlights findings from the formative evaluation phase of the COAST-AL project — an implementation-effectiveness study designed to increase timely HIV diagnosis and treatment through integrated outreach, testing, and rapid initiation protocols. The project’s pre-implementation results show strong feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness of the intervention within MCHD’s workflows and community engagement strategies.

“This conference is an important platform to share the innovations we’re piloting in Mobile County to strengthen HIV care,” said Dr. Walker. “By collaborating with academic and community partners, we’re contributing to a broader national conversation on justness, access, and data-informed public health action.”

“This is just a quick note of thanks to you for making it possible for Michelle Bernard and Mason Wade to attend the Continuum meeting in Puerto Rico last week,” said Dr. Lynn Matthews of UAB’s Division of Infectious Diseases, who attended along with UAB’s Madeline Pratt. “They contributed to this poster session, in collaboration with Cherrite Peterson, and were active participants in the conference sessions.

“We were so proud to share the COAST-AL work with the research community and the work was appreciated and noted. We were so glad they could be part of that dissemination. I know they are linchpins to your Family Health enterprise and imagine that sparing them for a week requires a lot of work for you/your team. Thanks for making it happen.”

MCHD remains committed to leveraging research, implementation science, and regional partnerships to address HIV disparities and ensure high-quality care and prevention services for all residents. For more information about the HIV programs in Alabama, visit alabamapublichealth.gov.