December 2025 TTU: 33rd Annual Linda Laubenstein Award, plus updates to PEP, Primary Care, and Stimulant Use

Topics, Trends & Updates

December 2025

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Dr. Uri Belkind Receives the 33rd Annual Linda Laubenstein Clinical Excellence Award

Congratulations Dr. Belkind!

The 33rd annual Linda Laubenstein Award recognizes Dr. Uri Belkind for his exceptional leadership and unwavering commitment to advancing comprehensive, inclusive care for LGBTQ+ youth. A recognized expert in HIV prevention, treatment, and gender-affirming care, he has combined clinical excellence with community-centered program development that has strengthened outcomes for adolescents across New York State and beyond.

As Associate Medical Director of Adolescent Medicine at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in New York City, Dr. Belkind provides affirming, evidence-based primary care, sexual and reproductive health services, and gender-affirming care to diverse youth populations, including those facing significant social and structural barriers to health. Dr. Belkind is also the Clinical Director of Health Outreach to Teens (HOTT) at Callen-Lorde, one of the nation’s longest-running community-based clinics dedicated to LGBTQ+ youth experiencing housing instability. Under his leadership, HOTT has expanded to offer integrated medical, behavioral health, and social support services that meet adolescents where they are and empower them to make informed decisions about their health.

In addition to his clinical leadership, Dr. Belkind serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. His scholarly work includes publications and presentations on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) implementation among youth, strategies for improving engagement in HIV prevention and treatment, and best practices in gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary adolescents. A recognized leader in the field, Dr. Belkind is an active member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM).

Through his clinical work, innovative outreach programs, teaching, research, and advocacy, he is deeply committed to ensuring that all young people—regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or life circumstances—have access to compassionate, high-quality care. For his passion, expertise, and steadfast dedication to protecting and uplifting LGBTQ+ youth, we are proud to present Dr. Uri Belkind with the 2025 Linda Laubenstein Award.

Updated: PEP to Prevent HIV Infection

The PEP to Prevent HIV Infection guideline was developed for healthcare practitioners in any medical setting who manage the care of individuals who request post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) after a possible exposure to HIV.

Updates by co-author Dr. Kristen Marks and the Medical Care Criteria Committee (MCCC) include:

Management of Potential Exposure to Hepatitis B Virus section: Comprehensive update
Management of Potential Exposure to Hepatitis C Virus section: Comprehensive update
Supplementary Materials section: Comprehensive update
Providing PEP Medications and Other Services section: Text added on amendments to Public Health Law section 2805-I requiring hospitals to provide a full 28-day PEP regimen to survivors of sexual assault, regardless of age (effective February 3, 2026).

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Updated: Primary Care for Adults With HIV

The Primary Care for Adults With HIV guideline was developed to guide clinicians in New York State who provide primary care for adults (aged ≥18 years) with HIV.

Updates by co-author Dr. Mary Dyer, contributing author Dr. Eugenia Siegler, and the MCCC include:

Goals of Primary Care for Adults With HIV section: Updated with new text on lifetime survivors (adults and adolescents with perinatally acquired HIV)

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Updated: Clinical Guidance: Stimulant Use

The Clinical Guidance: Stimulant Use was developed to guide primary care and other clinicians with patients who use stimulants.

Updates by the Substance Use Guidelines Committee include:

Table 2: Medications and Factors to Consider for Stimulant Use Disorder Treatment in Nonpregnant Adults: Clarified footnote to indicate that the use psychostimulants to treat stimulant use disorder is legal under New York State and federal law and should be prescribed by addiction specialists.

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Viremic—Cases in HIV Podcast

Join Hosts Eileen Scully and Christopher Hoffmann as they present cases, explore quandaries in adult HIV care, and discuss key evidence and guidelines that inform clinical decision-making.

New Episodes

Case 10. A Growing Problem: ART-Associated Weight Gain: A 54-year-old woman with longstanding HIV and obesity is stable on ART but concerned that it is causing weight gain. How best to address this growing concern? Listen as Chris and Eileen decipher the evidence related to weight gain and ART and weigh the best strategies for addressing this increasingly common and social media-inflected concern for patients with HIV and their care providers. Listen Now

Case 11. Unfolding Stories to Untangle Syphilis Testing: A 32-year-old man with well-controlled HIV, seen after a recent relationship split and sexual activity with new partners, is screened and diagnosed with syphilis. Eileen discusses this case with guest Dr. Matthew Hamill, who reviews his approach to STI screening and risk reduction, emphasizing an approach that normalizes screening. Matthew then reviews syphilis testing, diagnosis, and staging, including neurosyphilis assessment, and treatment. Listen Now

Coming Soon

Case 12. Injectable ART Failure: Minor Risk of a Major Event: After 3 years on injectable CAB/RPV, a patient develops viremia, with a viral load of ~1,300 copies/mL. Failure of injectable CAB/RPV occurs in 1% to 2%, despite adherence. What factors have been associated with CAB/RPV failure? Can regimen failure be predicted or prevented? Listen as Chris and Eileen discuss the data, their advice to patients considering a switch to injectable CAB/RPV, and their response when failure occurs. Listen December 9

We’re open to suggestions! To submit a clinical topic for a Viremic case discussion, email us at viremicpodcast@jh.edu.

Conversations With CEI Podcast

Keeping an Eye on STIs – Have You Heard of TMVII? This month, host Dr. Marguerite Urban chats with Dr. Jason Zucker, an adult and pediatric infectious diseases physician at Columbia University and the assistant medical director of the New York City HIV/STI Prevention Training Center, about an emerging fungal infection, Trichophyton mentagrophytes Genotype VII, also known as TMVII. Curious about what clinicians should know about TMVII? Listen now to learn more! Listen Now

PrEParing for Lenacapavir Implementation in Your Clinic: Early Lessons Learned: On June 18, 2025, the FDA approved Yeztugo, the brand name for subcutaneous lenacapavir, a prescription medication used for the pre-exposure prophylaxis of HIV. Subcutaneous lenacapavir is administered twice a year (every six months) to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV-1 infection in adults and adolescents at risk. With patients only needing lenacapavir twice a year for HIV prevention, the field has been optimistic about the potential for lenacapavir to reduce barriers and improve access to PrEP. Since we are still early in the rollout of subcutaneous lenacapavir, many providers have questions about how to offer it to their patients—from workflow to billing to managing potential side effects and drug-drug interactions.

On this episode, Antonio Urbina, MD, Medical Director for CEI’s HIV Primary Care and Prevention Center of Excellence, speaks with Alex Danforth, PharmD. Alex Danforth is a clinical pharmacist in Rochester, NY. She practices at Trillium Health, a federally qualified health center, where she works with patients and providers to help manage medications and optimize care. Alex currently provides clinical leadership for HIV treatment and prevention programs.

Drs. Urbina and Danforth talk about the latest New York State Clinical Guidelines for PrEP, which were updated on October 16th. The new guidelines provide important updates, including subcutaneous lenacapavir. They discuss important considerations for initiating patients on lenacapavir as well as some early lessons learned from implementing lenacapavir in their Rochester- and New York City-based clinics. Listen Now

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