LICENTIA COGITATIONIS

Multivariable Correlates of Early Sexual Debut, Condom Use, and Substance Use as Predictors of STI Risk Among U.S. Adolescents: Evidence from the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey Introduction Adolescents in the United States experience a disproportionately high burden of sexually transmitted infections, driven by overlapping behavioral and social factors (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). Early sexual debut is associated with increased risk due to longer exposure to sexual activity and lower likelihood of protective behaviors. Substance use before sex further increases risk by impairing judgment and reducing condom use (Leigh & Stall, 1993). Experiences of sexual violence also contribute to vulnerability by limiting the ability to negotiate safe sex (DiClemente et al., 2005). This study examines how these factors interact to influence STI risk and whether condom use acts as a mediating pathway. Background Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain a major public ...

HIV/HCV/Syphilis & Polysubstance Use Disorder for Homelessness  Presentation Script Good evening. My name is Clay Porter, and today I am presenting STREETRx at Valley Health Care , which stands for Syndemic Treatment, Rapid Engagement, and Equitable Transitions . This proposed program addresses the intersection of homelessness, polysubstance use disorder, overdose risk, HIV, hepatitis C, and syphilis among unhoused individuals in Columbus, Georgia. The central argument of this project is that these conditions should not be treated as separate public health problems. Instead, they operate as a syndemic , meaning they interact with and intensify one another within a context of housing instability, poverty, fragmented care, and structural inequity. The purpose of STREETRx is to create a low-barrier, co-located MAT and syndemic screening model within Valley Health Care’s existing clinical and outreach infrastructure. Rather than relying on traditional referral systems that requir...

New Projects for Conducting, Teaching, and Publishing Advanced Biostatistical Analysis for Social and Behavioral Sciences Doctoral Research Projects Public Health Program Year 1 Today was the last day of the first semester of my doctoral program in public health at Mercer University, and my professor of biostatistics invited me to work with her on some new research projects for students interesting in pursuing advanced data analysis at the graduate and doctoral-level. I would work with her directly to develop my own skills and then teach students as the education lead for this extracurricular club. It is a perfect opportunity for me to grow my knowledge and practice communicating and developing accessible content for diverse audiences. Together, we will work to publish our research; which will grow my academic portfolio in both publications and teaching experience.  Dr. Lilliana Morosanu is my professor of advanced biostatistics; and, for the first time, I how to apply the analysis...

Essay outlining my thoughts and work on drug prevention programs used for scholarship application. Prompt. Rehab programs traditionally use individual and group counseling to help clients overcome addiction. In recent years, treatment protocols have evolved to include more holistic therapy options to support the recovery process. What is one alternative treatment approach that you think more rehab facilities should include in their programs? Why do you think alternative treatment methods need to be included with traditional methods as a part of the recovery process? Essay As a scholar with specific subject matter expertise in harm reduction epidemiology and recovery program development, and as an individual living with HIV and queer man with history of substance abuse whose work and life are deeply intertwined, I have experienced- and benefited from- the values of traditional treatment models as much as I have yearned for more integrative, holistic methods that address the interconnect...

Part 1 "Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun...," writes Clifford Geertz, Father of Interpretive and Symbolic Anthropology. Geertz was adapting from Max Weber, emphasizing that culture isn’t something external to us; it’s the meaning-making structures humans create (language, rituals, symbols, institutions) and then live within. The “webs of significance” metaphor suggests that we are both the makers of culture and constrained by it.  Geertz’s “webs of significance” show that meaning is never fixed but constructed, contingent, and unstable . These webs overlap, clash, and shift with context, making truth a matter of discourse and power rather than universal essence. In this sense, culture is not a stable structure but a fluid play of interpretations. In this story, the webs become more literal. They are symbolic of competing systems of meaning.  The spider spins its own “web of significance,” and neither is inherently truer than the other; i...

Talking Sex with Noe and Clay There are the three questions we chose for our first Sex Talk on InstaLive or somewhere. We are both health educators, who primarily teach about sexuality.  Each question is frame as academic or accessible; so that nuances and particularities can be discussed alongside universal commons. The goal is to bridge the gap between what people are thinking and discussing among themselves and their peers, and what has been built by scholarship.  ☭ All we want is a cutsie revolution ☭ HIV & Stigma  How can we teach about HIV in a way that breaks down stigma, instead of making it seem more shameful or different than other STIs? Answer:  For me, the distinction itself distracts from the primary points I want people to take away from lesson on HIV. Currently, I talk about HIV in the context of other STIs, because that is the lesson. I typically break them down into 3 categories: vaccine preventable, cureable, and treatable- which is Hepatitis a...

Public health has long been shackled to surveillance, counting, monitoring, and extraction of data from communities who rarely see justice in return. We are told that without surveillance, there can be no health. But what if the opposite is true? A world without epidemiological surveillance would not be ignorant of health; it would be deeply attentive to suffering. But instead of tracking illness to control populations, it would mobilize care to eliminate the conditions that make people sick in the first place. The measure of public health would not be numbers on a dashboard but whether communities live with dignity, security, and joy. “The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.” Anansi      This quote written by my favorite anthropologist, the late David Graeber, in his book The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucrac y exemplifies how I think about and move...

  The Surveillance System  I'm listing the basic data collection tools used by local and state health departments- which report to CDC- first. Then I'll discuss how the epistemophilia of  this assembling inquisition machine is used. Here are the primary sources of information on PLHIV in the US that are collected and reported to CDC; and reused in other areas, the extend of which is unknown .  The Medical Monitoring Project  collects data on, and provides information about the behaviors, clinical outcomes, quality of care, and barriers to care and viral suppression among people with diagnosed HIV in the United States. Currently, 23 project areas (16 state health departments, 6 local health departments, and the Puerto Rico Department of Health) conduct MMP. eHARS  stands for Enhanced HIV/AIDS reporting system. It is the system used for HIV surveillance. eHARS collects data on all people living with HIV (PLWH) at the local and state level; and shares it ...