Sabina Hirshfield, PhD
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University - Professor
Education
PhD, Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia UniversityMA, Sociology, St. John’s University
BA, Sociology, SUNY Binghamton
Research Interests
eHealth and mHealth HIV prevention interventions, Health disparities among sexual, gender, and racial/ethnic minorities, Stimulant and other substance use BIO
Sabina Hirshfield is a Professor of Medicine at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, School of Medicine. Since 2018, she has been Chair of the Community Health Advisory & Information Network (CHAIN) Project, an ongoing study of persons living with HIV in the New York City and tri-county areas. For nearly two decades, Dr. Hirshfield has been conducting video-based eHealth and mHealth HIV prevention research and interventions, reaching thousands of individuals living with, or at-risk for, HIV, including those who inject drugs. Her current focus is on biomedical HIV prevention strategies, including home collection of dried blood spots for lab-quantified viral load, through a health disparities lens. A continual goal of Dr. Hirshfield’s research is to improve inclusion and engagement of racial and ethnic minority populations, with a particular focus on sexual minority men. Projects
Principal Investigator, Human Factors-designed Triple Test for HIV, HBV, and HCV Infection in Whole Blood Using Target Amplification, Signal Amplification, and Crumpled Graphene Biosensor Readout. Active
Principal Investigator, A Tailored Approach to Promoting Engagement in Public Health. Completed
Publications
Recent
Ghanooni D, Heise MJ, Sassaman K, Glidden DV, Martinson T, Mahuvakar S, Duncan DT, Horvath KJ, Hirshfield S, Williams R, Johnson MO, Grov C, Gandhi M, Carrico AW, Spinelli M (2025).
Suboptimal ART adherence, undetectable urine tenofovir, and higher C-reactive protein values
AIDS, 39 (13), 1975-1978. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000004288. PMCID: PMC12479088.
Suboptimal ART adherence, undetectable urine tenofovir, and higher C-reactive protein values
AIDS, 39 (13), 1975-1978. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000004288. PMCID: PMC12479088.
Schmidt HR, Heise MJ, Sassaman K, D'Angelo A, Martinson T, Mahuvakar S, Duncan DT, Horvath KJ, Hirshfield S, Williams R, Johnson M, Grov C, Carrico A, Gandhi M, Spinelli MA (2025).
High viral suppression amid demographic disparities: a U.S. national cohort of people with HIV on a popular dating app
AIDS, 39 (8), 1080-1085. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000004173. PMCID: PMC12122227.
High viral suppression amid demographic disparities: a U.S. national cohort of people with HIV on a popular dating app
AIDS, 39 (8), 1080-1085. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000004173. PMCID: PMC12122227.
Martinson T, Heise MJ, Sassaman K, Schmidt HR, D'Angelo AB, Mahuvakar S, Duncan DT, Horvath KJ, Hirshfield S, Williams R, Johnson MO, Grov C, Carrico A, Gandhi M, Spinelli MA (2025).
Interest and disparities in awareness and uptake of doxyPEP among U.S. MSM living with HIV
AIDS, 39 (9), 1191-1196. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000004192. PMCID: PMC12202166.
Interest and disparities in awareness and uptake of doxyPEP among U.S. MSM living with HIV
AIDS, 39 (9), 1191-1196. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000004192. PMCID: PMC12202166.
Buccheri R, Spinelli MA, Heise MJ, Glidden DV, Sassaman K, Martinson T, Schmidt HR, D'Angelo AB, Duncan DT, Horvath KJ, Hirshfield S, Williams RS, Johnson MO, Grov C, Carrico A, Gandhi M (2025).
Feasibility of point-of-care urine self-testing to measure tenofovir adherence and predict viral suppression
Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 12 (6), ofaf300. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf300. PMCID: PMC12131155.
Feasibility of point-of-care urine self-testing to measure tenofovir adherence and predict viral suppression
Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 12 (6), ofaf300. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf300. PMCID: PMC12131155.
Chavez JV, Ewart LD, Ilyas O, Ghanooni D, Diaz JE, Atkins L, Ramos R, Hernandez A, Stewart A, Horvath KJ, Hirshfield S, Carrico AW (2025).
‘I was like, this is gonna hurt’: Implementing self-sampling of dried blood spots to measure HIV viral load
PLoS One, 20 (5), e0322740. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0322740. PMCID: PMC12068564.
‘I was like, this is gonna hurt’: Implementing self-sampling of dried blood spots to measure HIV viral load
PLoS One, 20 (5), e0322740. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0322740. PMCID: PMC12068564.
Notable
Evaluation of Sex Positive! a video eHealth intervention for men living with HIV
AIDS and Behavior, 23 (11), 3103-3118. doi: 10.1007/s10461-019-02498-5. PMCID: PMC6803061.
Hirshfield S, Teran RA, Downing MJ, Chiasson MA, Tieu HV, Dize L, Gaydos CA (2018).
Quantification of HIV-1 RNA among men who have sex with men using an at-home self-collected dried blood spot specimen: Feasibility study
JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 4 (4), e10847. doi: 10.2196/10847. PMCID: PMC6238105.
Wall MM, Chiasson MA, Hirshfield S (2015).
Complex drug use patterns and associated HIV transmission risk behaviors in an internet sample of U.S. men who have sex with men
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44 (2), 421-428. doi: 10.1007/s10508-014-0337-8. PMCID: PMC4381804.
Dr. Hirshfield's Google Scholar Profile