Dr. Ali Mirzazadeh Assistant Professor Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics School of Medicine University of California, San Francisco   Email: ali.mirzazadeh@ucsf.edu Phone: +1-415 476 5821 Address: 550 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94158, United States Download CV

Biography

I am a medically trained infectious disease epidemiologist with extensive experience in researching with people who inject drugs (PWID) in the U.S. and Iran. I have authored over 113 peer-reviewed journal articles (21 specific to injection drug use), 5 book chapters, and 1 UNICEF guidebook on how to study hard-to-reach youth. I established the first PWID cohort in Iran (ROSTAM study) to measure the prevalence of drug use and sexual behaviors, HIV and HCV infection, and assess the feasibility and impact of a community-based HCV treatment model. I also have ample expertise in different sampling methods to reach individuals from marginalized groups, including respondent-driven-sampling. In particular, I have conducted research among several hard-to-reach populations using sampling methods such as time-location and responded-driven sampling including female sex workers (Iran 2010 and 2015, Afghanistan 2019, South Africa 2018), people who inject drugs (Iran 2013-2019, Afghanistan 2019, USA 2015-2019), men who have sex with men (Iran 2019, Georgia 2015-2019, Afghanistan 2019), prisoners (Iran 2009 and 2014) and street youth/children (Iran 2018). Through multidisciplinary collaboration across academic, local, national, and global organizations, my research has directly led to interventions that improve engagement in care, viral suppression, and prevention of HIV/HCV transmission. I am also experienced in interpreting and disseminating research findings for broad reach through collaboration with national (e.g., CDC; Global Fund) and global (e.g., UNAIDS) agencies.

Research Priorities

• HIV and HCV continuum of care and treatment
• Understanding blood-borne infectious disease epidemiology among women and men who inject drugs
• Sampling hard-to-reach populations including population size estimation and surveillance
• Access to and use of harm reduction programs
• Methods to assess bias and measure effects in behavioral surveys

Previous academic collaborations with SUMS

I have lectured a three-day Scientific Writing Workshop in Dec 2019. I have also worked with a team on “gender difference in all-cause mortality of people living with HIV in Shiraz: a 20-year cohort study”

Number and the duration of previous visits to SUMS

A four-day visit in December 2019