Education
EdD, Ethnography and Education, Harvard Graduate School of EducationEdM, Ethnography and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
BS, Linguistics, Northeastern University
Research Interests
HIV prevention (among PWID, PWUD, serodiscordant couples, women, heterosexuals; PrEP, combination prevention), Opioid overdose prevention, Alternatives to policing as usual, Barriers to drug treatment BIO
Janie Simmons is an ethnographer who specializes in HIV and overdose prevention. She has worked extensively with people who use drugs and been involved in research in the following topic areas: drug-using couples; drug use initiation; barriers to drug treatment; online overdose prevention; trauma and secondary trauma; intimate partner violence and field-based research ethics. Dr. Simmons is co-editor and co-author (with Drs. Paul Farmer and Margaret Connors) of Women, Poverty and AIDS: Sex, Drugs and Structural Violence (1996; 2011). She has worked on a variety of NIDA-funded prevention studies in the Northeast including the Magnetic Couples Study and the WISE Study (Jim McMahon, PI) and the HEALing Initiative in Kentucky (Sharon Walsh, PI). Since 2008, Dr. Simmons has been the PI on a NIDA-funded HIV prevention study on the interpersonal and structural dynamics which shape HIV risk and drug treatment among injecting, drug using couples and most recently, a CDC-funded pragmatic clinical trial evaluating an innovative risk reduction intervention that aims to bring policing in line with public health priorities by equipping police officers with best practices for minimizing workplace harms related to encounters with PWUO/PWID. She has also developed two computer-based, overdose-prevention training modules: one for potential bystanders and one for police officers, firefighters and EMTs. Dissemination of these online training modules is well underway on GetNaloxoneNow.org. Projects
Principal Investigator, RockawayGetsNaloxone. Active
Principal Investigator, Barriers to Treatment-based HIV Prevention for IDU Couples. Completed
Principal Investigator, Evaluation of an Experimental Educational Module on Opioid-Related Occupational Safety to Minimize Barriers to Overdose Response Among Police Officers. Completed
Principal Investigator, GetNaloxoneNow.org Dissemination and Implementation Pilot. Completed
Principal Investigator, Online Overdose Prevention, Recognition and Response. Completed
Principal Investigator, Police/Fire/EMTs Get the SKOOP: Online Skills and Training for Overdose Prevention. Completed
Publications
Recent
McMahon JM, Simmons J, Braksmajer A, LeBlanc N (2022).
HIV-serodifferent couples’ perspectives and practices regarding HIV prevention strategies: A mixed methods study
PLOS Global Public Health, 2 (8), e0000620. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000620. PMCID: PMC10022221.
HIV-serodifferent couples’ perspectives and practices regarding HIV prevention strategies: A mixed methods study
PLOS Global Public Health, 2 (8), e0000620. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000620. PMCID: PMC10022221.
Simmons J, Elliott L, Bennett AS, Beletsky L, Rajan S, Anders B, Dastparvardeh N (2022).
Evaluation of an experimental web-based educational module on opioid-related occupational safety among police officers: Protocol for a randomized pragmatic trial to minimize barriers to overdose response
JMIR Research Protocols, 11 (2), e33451. doi: 10.2196/33451. PMCID: PMC8917434.
Evaluation of an experimental web-based educational module on opioid-related occupational safety among police officers: Protocol for a randomized pragmatic trial to minimize barriers to overdose response
JMIR Research Protocols, 11 (2), e33451. doi: 10.2196/33451. PMCID: PMC8917434.
McMahon JM, Simmons J, Haberer JE, Mannheimer S, Leblanc NM, Torres L, Quiles R, Aedo G, Javier A, Braksmajer A, Harriman G, Trabold N, Pouget ER, Kurth A, Smith MDR, Brasch J, Podsiadly EJ, Anderson PL (2021).
The Magnetic Couples Study: Protocol for a mixed methods prospective cohort study of HIV-serodifferent heterosexual couples’ perspectives and use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
BMJ Open, 11 (7), e048993. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-048993. PMCID: PMC8252879.
The Magnetic Couples Study: Protocol for a mixed methods prospective cohort study of HIV-serodifferent heterosexual couples’ perspectives and use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
BMJ Open, 11 (7), e048993. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-048993. PMCID: PMC8252879.
McMahon JM, Braksmajer A, Zhang C, Leblanc N, Chen M, Aidala A, Simmons J (2019).
Syndemic factors associated with adherence to antiretroviral therapy among HIV-positive adult heterosexual men
AIDS Research and Therapy, 16 (1), 32. doi: 10.1186/s12981-019-0248-9. PMCID: PMC6842154.
Syndemic factors associated with adherence to antiretroviral therapy among HIV-positive adult heterosexual men
AIDS Research and Therapy, 16 (1), 32. doi: 10.1186/s12981-019-0248-9. PMCID: PMC6842154.
Zhang C, McMahon J, Simmons J, Brown LL, Nash R, Liu Y (2019).
Suboptimal HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis awareness and willingness to use among women who use drugs in the United States: A systematic review and meta-analysis
AIDS and Behavior, 23 (10), 2641-2653. doi: 10.1007/s10461-019-02573-x. PMCID: PMC6790171.
Dr. Simmons' ResearchGate Profile
Suboptimal HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis awareness and willingness to use among women who use drugs in the United States: A systematic review and meta-analysis
AIDS and Behavior, 23 (10), 2641-2653. doi: 10.1007/s10461-019-02573-x. PMCID: PMC6790171.
Selected Press