Integrated Care for Syndemics: Bringing SUD, HIV & HCV Treatment Together

ISSUP Global, cordially invites you to an upcoming webinar on Integrated Care for Syndemics: Bringing SUD, HIV & HCV Treatment Together.

Date: Thursday, 4th December 2025

Time: 1:00 PM London | 8:00 AM ET

Collocated care for the syndemics of substance use disorder presents a transformative opportunity to improve addiction treatment while simultaneously addressing associated infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C (HCV). Emerging research has demonstrated strong benefits of delivering integrated OUD–HCV care within the same clinical setting: decreased odds of loss to follow-up (Nouch 2018), increased engagement and duration of opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment (Losikoff 2022), higher visit attendance (Rosencrans 2023), increased uptake of HCV treatment (Rosencrans 2023), and improved rates of HCV cure (Rosenthal 2023).

This webinar will review the current evidence base for syndemic-integrated care models; discuss examples of collocated care in diverse international settings; and present case studies that illustrate how integrated pathways improve health outcomes, strengthen continuity of care, and reduce barriers for people with co-occurring substance use and infectious diseases.

Intended audience:

Addiction medicine clinicians, psychiatrists, nurses, and social workers
HIV, HCV, and infectious disease providers
Programme managers, policymakers, and treatment system planners
NGOs and community-based organisations working in harm reduction, integrated care, or recovery support
Researchers, public health specialists, and educators interested in syndemic approaches
ISSUP chapters and capacity-building partners seeking models for integrated service delivery

Learning outcomes:

By attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

Describe the evidence base supporting collocated care for substance use disorder and infectious syndemics (HIV/HCV).
Identify integrated care models successfully implemented across different regions and service settings.
Understand the clinical and operational mechanisms through which collocated care improves treatment retention, infectious disease outcomes, and overall patient engagement.
Apply insights from real-world case examples to strengthen or design integrated service pathways in their own contexts.

Presenter:

Dr Sarah Kattakuzhy

Associate Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Dr Sarah Kattakuzhy is a clinician-scientist board certified in internal medicine and addiction medicine, with expertise at the intersection of infectious diseases and substance use. She is an Associate Professor in the Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Addiction Research and Treatment at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She also serves as Associate Director of the Kahlert Institute for Addiction Medicine and Co-Director of the Research Initiative in Infection and Substance Use at the Institute of Human Virology.

Her work focuses on innovative models of integrated care for people who use drugs, improving outcomes across HIV, HCV, and SUD treatment cascades.

Webinars and online events delivered and hosted by the International Society of Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP) are provided for informational purposes only. They are educational in nature and do not constitute medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.