About SIG
The Social Intervention Group (SIG) is a global leader in intervention, prevention, behavioral, and implementation research on communicable and chronic diseases.
Since its founding in 1990, SIG’s evidence-based interventions have been identified as best practices by the Center for Disease Control and UNICEF, and have been disseminated and adapted around the country and around the world.
Mission & Vision
SIG develops and implements evidence-based sustainable solutions to emerging health and social issues affecting diverse populations domestically and globally and is training the next generation of scientists from underrepresented communities to address these issues.
Our vision is to scale up sustainable effective solutions to emerging health and social issues in low resource underserved communities domestically and globally through state-of-art intervention and implementation science research and to train a cadre of underrepresented researchers from affected communities who can continue advancing our mission.
Partner Institutes
The Center for Advancing Community Strengths and Social Wellbeing in Uzbekistan
Launched on September 4, 2024, SIG's newest partner institute is the Center for Advancing Community Strengths and Social Wellbeing in Uzbekistan. The Center will improve the social welfare system in Uzbekistan through program development, meaningful research, professional development, and international cooperation.
CHOSEN
The Center for Healing Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders, led by Directors Nabila El-Bassel, Frances R. Levin, Edward V. Nunes Jr., and Muredach Patrick Reilly, is a crossdisciplinary collaboration focused on directly impacting negative health consequences caused by opioid and other substance use disorders, including drug overdose and overdose deaths, the impaired functioning and lost productivity, co-occurring psychiatric and physical disorders (e.g., PTSD and trauma, HIV, and HCV), and the impacts on family and the community.
A joint project of Columbia School of Social Work, Irving Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry Division on Substance Use Disorders, and the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, CHOSEN's leadership team also includes Tim Hunt and Elwin Wu as Associate Directors.
Global Health Research Center of Central Asia
The Global Health Research Center of Central Asia, led by co-Directors Nabila El-Bassel, Elwin Wu, and Louisa Gilbert, works to advance and scale up evidence-based programs and policies focused on key public health priorities in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. In addition to epidemiological, social, and behavioral studies of infectious and non-infectious diseases, GHRCCA aims to raise new generation of local scholars capable of implementing multidisciplinary studies to solve urgent public health issues.
Center for Justice
Founded in 2014, the Center for Justice is committed to ending mass incarceration and criminalization, and advancing alternative approaches to justice and safety through education, research, and policy change. By engaging formerly incarcerated people in leadership and decision-making, as well as developing a network of local and national partners including formerly incarcerated people, grassroots activists, academics, community organizations, policy-makers and civic leaders, the Center for Justice has positioned itself as a leader in the movement to end mass incarceration.
Training Programs
T32 Training Program on HIV and Substance Use in the Criminal Justice System
T32 is a NIDA training program for pre- and post-doctoral scholars on implementation research for criminal justice-involved populations.
T32 provides training for the next generation of pre- and post-doctoral scholars in the prevention, treatment, and care of HIV and drug use among individuals in the criminal legal system with a strong emphasis on individuals involved in alternatives to incarceration and community supervision.
HIV Intervention Science Training Program for Underrepresented New Investigators
HISTP is an NIMH R25 HIV training program founded in 2007 to train underrepresented scholars from universities across the country on HIV implementation science.
Since 2007, HISTP has strengthened universities, diversified HIV research, and elevated scholars of color across the country. HISTP supports scholars as they use innovative new strategies like hackathons, gamification, and design challenges, to achieve their research goals.
Research Highlights
HEALing Communities Study
The HEALing Communities Study (HCS) is an NIH-funded effort to reduce overdose deaths in New York and three other highly-impacted states. It was built with a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary approach. Community partners include government agencies, non-profits, the medical field, and people with lived experience. 2024 saw the publication of numerous HCS papers, spanning all four states.
Primary investigation outcome: Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, "Community-Based Cluster-Randomized Trial to Reduce Opioid Overdose Deaths" details the ways HCS researchers used a data-driven approach to engage the community, build coalitions, and deploy tailored interventions. While the primary goal of a 40% reduction in overdose deaths was not achieved, the 1,030 interventions put in place across four states saved more than 450 lives.
Additionally, the study found several statistically significant secondary outcomes, in areas including naloxone distribution and community-level stigma.
Disseminating Key Findings
Naloxone distribution: The HCS's intervention communities showed a 79% increase in life-saving naloxone distribution.
Stigma: In 66 participating communities, the Communities that Heal intervention decreased perceived stigma toward people treated for opioid use disorder, decreasing a major barrier to seeking treatment.
Polysubstance overdose: In the intervention communities, there were 37% fewer deaths due to an opioid combined with a psychostimulant other than cocaine.
Success Stories in New York State
Chautauqua County, in Western New York, had the state's third highest rate of overdose deaths involving opioids in 2022. Between 2023 and 2024, the county saw a 51% decrease in fatal overdoses.
In Cayuga County, there was a 28% decrease in fatal overdoses from 2021 to 2022. The rate dropped even more in 2023, leading to a 40% decrease from 2021 to 2023.
By continuing to support and sustain the interventions implemented as part of HCS, Ulster County saw a 33.1 % reduction in non-fatal overdoses and a 45.3% reduction in fatalities between 2023 and 2024.
Combatting Overdose in New York Communities with AI
In a groundbreaking interdisciplinary collaboration, SIG joined forces with Columbia University Information Technology and the Columbia Department of Statistics to use the power of artificial intelligence to address the overdose crisis, one of New York State’s most pressing health emergencies.
Building Social Service Workforce Competencies in Europe and Central Asia
This project, a collaboration between UNICEF and Columbia School of Social Work led by Timothy Hunt, works to strengthen interpersonal communication and community engagement to influence and support individual and social change in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and improve the behavioral and social outcomes of vulnerable individuals, children, families, groups, and communities in ECA, including initially Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Albania. The project has now expanded to nine countries. This is accomplished by expanding the capacity of the social service workforce and competencies utilized in the social services field.
Launched for Europe and Central Asia on June 21, 2024, the Building Social Service Workforce Competencies Model builds capacity in social work and the social services workforce by strengthening interpersonal communication and community engagement competencies.
Following a 2020 pilot in Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Albania, the initiative was expanded into five additional countries. The curriculum uses a train-the-trainer approach to build cohorts of master trainers to scale up the skills in their workforce and students, and prioritizes cross-cultural education and adaptation to local contexts.
WINGS
WINGS is an evidence-based screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment service tool, designed to identify intimate partner and gender-based violence among women who use drugs. It was developed by Dr. Louisa Gilbert and her team at SIG in 2008, and has been adapted and implemented around the world, including in New York City, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, India, and Ukraine.
In 2024, the Global Health Research Center of Central Asia team completed a successful community-based implementation trial that evaluated the effectiveness of delivering a mHealth WINGS intervention to reduce intimate partner violence (IPV) among 458 women from key affected populations in Kazakhstan, using an innovative community-coordinated response model. Participants in the WINGS intervention were more than 20% less likely to report psychological and sexual intimate partner violence, and more than 40% less likely than waitlist control participants to report physical intimate partner violence.
Helping Women Find Safety from Gender-Based Violence in Ukraine
Club Eney, a Ukrainian NGO with locations throughout the country, has served women who use drugs, women living with HIV, and women who engage in sex work, among other vulnerable populations, for more than 20 years. They observed high rates of gender-based violence among the women they serve, and adapted WINGS to meet their specific needs. In the ensuing years, they have assisted more than 4,000 women who use drugs and women who engage in sex work with safety planning and identifying service needs.
TechMPower
TechMPower, led by Victoria Frye, Timothy Hunt, and Nabila El-Bassel, is a groundbreaking study that aims to prevent and treat HIV and overdose in criminal justice settings through the implementation of a comprehensive bundle of evidence-based strategies that will enhance the effective delivery of interventions for both HIV and substance use disorder.
Launched in May 2024 in Ulster County, New York, TechMPower reseachers are working with the local sheriff's department and other local partners to improve receipt of services, continuity of service access, education on self-screening, building on existing community coalitions, anti-stigma training, and more.
CHHARGE
Using insights from CHHARGE, a study of an anti-stigma intervention to increase HIV self-testing update among Black queer men, SIG Co-Director Victoria Frye and project director Mark Paige collaborated with Mobilizing Our Brothers Initiative on the creation of a set of original short films that capture the realities for life, love, and community for queer Black men during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 22, 2024, an encore presentation of the films, collectively called A Story Within A Story, was delivered at TikTok's New York City headquarters.
Western New York Rural Alliance: Communities That HEAL
The goal of the Western NY Rural Alliance: Communities That HEAL RCORP Impact Initiative, led by Timothy Hunt and Dawn Goddard-Eckrich, is to evaluate the adoption, cost and, acceptability of the Communities That HEAL intervention in six western New York counties where opioid related overdose deaths are high and resources are stretched. Working with a network of coalitions in Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Livingston, Steuben, and Wyoming, researchers will work to improve access to integrated, coordinated treatment and recovery services for substance use disorder (SUD), including opioid use disorder (OUD), and promote long-term, sustained recovery for over 4,500 people over a four-year period.
Breaking Barriers with E-WORTH
Using in-depth interviews with participants from the Empowering African American Women on the Road to Health study, which aimed to lower HIV and STI risks and enhance access to care for Black women with ties to the criminal justice system, researchers found that many participants felt disrespected, ignored, and not taken seriously by healthcare providers.
By focusing on the experiences of women under community supervision, Dawn Goddard-Eckrich and other researchers illuminated an overlooked aspect of healthcare inequality. These findings emphasize the need for tailored interventions and policy adjustments to tackle mistrust within this demographic.
ORLEU: Reducing Intersectional and HIV Stigma among High Risk Women who use Drugs in Kazakhstan
Led by Victoria Frye and Brooke West, ORLEU is testing the acceptability, feasibility, and usability of a multi-level intervention to promote stigma resistance and reduce anticipated and internalized stigma among women who exchange sex and use substances.
In 2024, they completed training of 83 healthcare providers across 10 HIV clinics, in order to create stigma-free clinics that will be available to women in the area.
Center for Justice
Women Transcending
Women Transcending, by and for formerly incarcerated and directly-impacted women, aims to highlight unique factors that bring women into the criminal justice system and raise awareness of how the impact of the punishment paradigm on formerly incarcerated women and their communities. Through the Women Transcending Collective Leadership Institute, the Oral History Research Program, The Right/Write to Heal Initiative, and comprehensive public programming, they are working to re-shape the current narrative by empowering women to become leaders and agents of change in their own communities.
The Collective Leadership Institute is a one-year nationwide leadership development fellowship for women and gender expansive people. Through 2024, the fellowship has had more than 120 participants, from more than 25 states.
Degrees of Freedom, a short film about the Bedford Hills Prison College Program, premiered at the Dances with Films festival, on December 5, 2024.
Right/Write to Heal expanded its narrative work through a collaboration with the Classical Theater of Harlem. Mask Off, a performance piece created through the writing of women participating in the program, was performed in Nairobi, Kenya; Brooklyn, New York; Louisville, Kentucky; and Portland, Maine.
Right/Write to Heal also collaborated with the Women and Justice Project to bring art programming into the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, and led a writing program for women in solitary confinement.
Beyond the Bars
Beyond the Bars, a student-driven interdisciplinary conference on mass incarceration, is held annually. In 2024, the conference explored the path out of the punishment paradigm, through the struggles of challenging carceral punishment, and highlighting non-punitive approaches to interpersonal and community violence.
Throughout the weekend of the conference, participants and attendees joined in plenaries and workshops about the global impact of prisons and their history as a tool of colonizers, the indigenous roots of justice beyond punishment, ending state violence, finding non-punitive responses to interpersonal violence, indigenous peacemaking, organizing for prison closure, transformative justice, and many other related topics.
Training Program Highlights
HISTP
At the 2024 HISTP Winter Institute in Puerto Rico, fellows attended workshops on tenure and grant writing, visited the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, and participated in an implementation science seminar.
Carlos Rodriguez-Diaz, Souhail M. Malavé Rivera, and Edda Santiago discussed the need to increase implementation science work in Puerto Rico, and the need for anti-colonial research to address disparities in HIV.
As part of the visit to the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, fellows met with Karen G. Martinez, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Director of the Center for the Study and Treatment of Fear and Anxiety, and discussed potential collaborations and mentorships with her.
Fellows had the opportunity to share grant submissions and successes, including Aimalohi A. Ahonkhai submitting a DP1 that was scored, and Melonie Walcott submitting a CDC MARI grant.
Sharing Our Work
Peer-Reviewed Publications
In 2024, SIG faculty, staff, and post-docs published more than 40 peer-reviewed papers, on topics spanning from opioid overdose in the United States to combatting HIV stigma with citizen science in Kazakhstan to the effect of food and housing insecurity on an HIV/STI prevention intervention.
Selected Publications:
- Scaling Up HIV Self-Testing and Linkage to Care Among Women Who Exchange Sex and/or Use Drugs in Kazakhstan (AIDS Education and Prevention)
- Patterns and Factors Associated With Alcohol Misuse Among Young Black Men Who Have Sex With Men in New York City (American Journal of Men's Health)
- Community-led approaches to making naloxone available in public settings: Implementation experiences in the HEALing communities study (International Journal of Drug Policy)
- The Influence of Housing Status and Food Insecurity on a Behavioral HIV/STI Prevention Intervention for Black Women under Community Supervision in New York City: A Moderation Analysis (AIDS and Behavior)
- Synergistic effects of exposure to multiple types of violence on non-fatal drug overdose among women who inject drugs in Indonesia (International Journal of Drug Policy)
- A citizen science approach to develop a digital intervention to reduce HIV stigma and promote HIV self-testing among adolescents and young adults: a mixed methods analysis from Kazakhstan (Journal of the International AIDS Society)
- Effectiveness of a culturally tailored HIV intervention in promoting PrEP among black women who use drugs in community supervision programs in New York City: a randomized clinical trial (Addiction Science & Clinical Practice)
- Typologies of Sex Work Practice and Associations with the HIV Risk Environment and Risk Behaviors in Kazakhstan (AIDS and Behavior)
- Perinatal Loneliness and Isolation Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic in New York City: A Qualitative Study (Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health)
Media Coverage
Coverage of the HEALing Communities Study from POLITICO's Ruth Reader included a feature on the study's success stories in New York and Ohio, "Opioid deaths rose 50 percent during the pandemic. In these places, they fell," as well as two shorter pieces on the use of AI in the study, "Opioids, AI and a plan to save lives" and "Smarter use of data (and AI) could bring down opioid deaths."
Selected Media Coverage:
- Sullivan County fights highest-in-state overdose rate (River Reporter)
- New York’s Peer-led Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution Programs Help Build Trusted Relationships, Save Lives (Addiction Policy Forum)
- Opioid deaths stable, but fentanyl spikes (Cortland Standard)
- How Cayuga County reduced overdoses, defying national trend (Auburn Citizen)
- Community-Based Interventions for Opioid Overdoses Fail to Reduce Deaths in Trial (MedPage Today)
- Here's What a Massive New NIH Addiction Study Found (Psychology Today)
- Huge grant fails to reduce ODs by 40%; does show a 9% drop over four states, saving an estimated 483 lives, but few in Ky. (Lexington Times)
- After Initial Disappointment, Study Sees 37% Drop in Specific Overdose Deaths (Forensic)
- 676: How Tobacco Cultivates Young Customers, Opioid Crisis Solutions (ASTHO Newscast)
Events
Throughout 2024, SIG faculty, staff, researchers, and fellows shared their work at academic conferences around the country, including the HEAL Annual Scientific Meeting, the College on Problems of Drug Dependence Annual Scientific Meeting, the 25th International AIDS Conference, HIV Research For Prevention, the Addiction Health Services Research Conference, the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting and Expo, and the 17th Annual Dissemination and Implementation Science Conference.
In addition to academic conferences, it is a priority to share SIG's work outside academia through webinars and other presentations.
At the 25th International AIDS Conference, SIG and GHRCCA staff and students shared their work through numerous presentations. Victoria Frye, Dawn Goddard-Eckrich, Brooke West, Meruyert Darisheva, Tara McCrimmon, Nishita Dsouza, and Olivia Cordingly presented data from numerous studies, including Aegida, Orleu, and E-Worth.
At the College on Problems of Drug Dependence Annual Scientific Meeting, shared research on the E-WORTH intervention, in which she explored the influence of group sessions on the effectiveness of the E-WORTH intervention and Dawn Goddard-Eckrich presented a groundbreaking study on pharmacists' perceptions of opioid use disorder treatment.
At the 17th Annual Dissemination and Implementation Science Conference, Timothy Hunt presented about HEALing Communities Study outcomes (top left). At the 5th Annual HEAL Scientific Meeting, Alissa Davis presented findings about community-level determinants of opioid-related stigma in the HEALing Communities Study. The community-level stigma she studied remains a significant barrier to seeking treatment for opioid use disorder.
Dawn Goddard-Eckrich (lower left) and Erin Kim (lower right) presented at American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, as did Ohshue Gatanaga (not pictured).
The P3: Sex-Positive | Pleasure | Practices team engaged the queer community at numerous events, including Brooklyn Pride (top left), and Victoria Frye presented as part of GLAAD's 2024 State of HIV Stigma webinar.
Elwin Wu and Timothy Hunt both participated in panel discussions through HEAL Connections and Addiction Policy Forum, sharing their expertise about building data dashboards for community decision-making and strategies to reduce overdose fatalities.
Team News & Accomplishments
Awards & Accolades
Dr. Nabila El-Bassel won the NIH HEAL Initiative Director's Research Award for her outstanding contributions to harm reduction and addiction treatment research, particularly in the context of marginalized communities in the United States and globally. This accomplishment acknowledges her remarkable career and the significant advancements in harm reduction and addiction research she has made, with the ultimate goal of improving the well-being of individuals and communities affected by addiction and the opioid crisis.
At the 5th Annual HEAL Scientific Meeting Poster Session, Dr. Alissa Davis won a Community Choice Award for her clear, engaging, and relevant presentation about community-level determinants of opioid-related stigma in the HEALing Communities Study.
Celebrations & Commemorations
For National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, Mark Paige spoke about Project TRUST, an intervention identified by the CDC as a best practice for increasing HIV self-testing. He served as project manager for TRUST, and now is the project manager and co-investigator for two active studies focused on HIV self-testing.
Co-Director Victoria Frye spoke about celebrating the queer Black community and fighting stigma during Pride Month.
Senior Project Director James David discussed advancing LGBTQIA+ healing through science and outreach.
To mark the 37th World AIDS Day, SIG Director Nabila El-Bassel and Co-Director Louisa Gilbert shared a message acknowledging all the lives lost to HIV and AIDS, and committing to sustain and accelerate the work necessary to create a future free from the disease.
Faculty, Students & Fellows
Dr. Malitta Engstrom, PhD, a graduate of Columbia School of Social Work, rejoined SIG as a Visiting Scholar on sabbatical from her role as Faculty Director of the Master of Social Work Program at the University of Pennsylvania.
7 masters and PhD students who worked with SIG graduated from Columbia in the spring of 2024.
In the fall of 2024, we welcomed 12 new students, working on their Masters of Social Work and doctoral degrees.
Building GHRCCA Research Capacity in Qualitative Data Analysis: Through a weeklong training, GHRCCA staff expanded their knowledge of qualitative data and analysis, practiced developing and applying a codebook to in-depth interviews, and learned how to work with Dedoose software. This serves to expand the already strong body of research expertise in Kazakhstan, where GHRCCA and SIG staff can continue to support local needs.
In Memoriam
Dr. Mahbat Bahromov, MD, M.Sc., who passed away in February, worked closely with the Global Health Research Center for Central Asia (GHRCCA) in Tajikistan, where he was the Director of the Prisma Research Center. Dr. Bahromov was also an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Public Health. Throughout his career, he worked as a physician, a researcher, a writer, and a mentor to many young Tajik and international researchers. His own research focused on the impact of migration on the health of migrants, their families, and their communities.