University of Miami · PsychologyMental Health and HIV Treatment Unit
Steven A Safren · Coral Gables, Florida
Research Focus
Dr. Steven A. Safren’s lab focuses on improving mental health treatment for people living with HIV, particularly in South Africa where there is a significant number of individuals affected. The lab researches ways to implement evidence-based treatments for depression that enhance patient adherence to HIV care. They aim to develop scalable strategies that can be replicated in low-resource settings, ensuring that crucial mental health services reach more people in need.
HIVdepressiontreatment adherenceimplementation sciencecognitive behavioral therapySouth Africamental healthclinical trialpublic health
Research Aims
5AIM 01Implement evidence-based treatments for depression among individuals living with HIV in South Africa.
AIM 02Enhance the capacity of healthcare providers to deliver mental health services.
AIM 03Evaluate the effectiveness of different implementation strategies on patient outcomes.
AIM 04Increase the reach of mental health treatments in low-resource settings.
AIM 05Develop a replicable model for integrated medical and mental health care.
Skills the Lab Values
cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)randomized controlled trials (RCT)mental health screeningclinical supervisionimplementation strategy developmentcommunity partnershipsresource allocationdata analysispublic health policy
Output against the department
Publications716top 3% of dept.8th of 296
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations32ktop 7% of dept.22nd of 296
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.