Email

charlene.flash@bcm.edu

Positions

Assistant Professor

Medicine-Infectious Disease
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX US

Education

Advanced Training from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

01/2012 - Boston, MA United States

Advanced Training from Brown University

01/2010 - Providence, RI United States

M.D. from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

01/2006 - Piscataway, NJ United States

M.P.H. from University Of Medicine And Dentistry Of New Jersey

01/2006 - Piscataway, NJ United States

B.S. from Yale University

01/1998 - New Haven, CT United States

Honors & Awards

Center of Excellence in Minority Health and Health Disparities - Post Graduate Fellowship, 2012

Excellence in Consultative Medicine, Brown, 2010

New Jersey Dept. of Health and Senior Services Student Award, 2006

Promise Clinic Recognition Award, 2006

Academic Excellence in Primary Care Medicine Award, 2006

Gold Humanism Honor Society, 2005, 2006

Professional Interests

• HIV
• HIV prevention
• Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
• Health disparities among person with or at risk for HIV/AIDS
• Women's health
• Infectious Diseases

Professional Statement

Dr. Charlene Flash is a national expert on the implementation of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, having developed one of the first comprehensive HIV prevention programs in the United States to prescribe HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to high-risk heterosexuals and men who have sex with men (MSM) in a real-world setting outside the context of a demonstration project or clinical trial. Currently the Assistant Medical Director of HIV Prevention Services for Harris Health System in Houston, TX, Dr. Flash is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Disease at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Flash provides primary care to a large panel of patients with HIV at Thomas Street Health Center, one of the oldest and largest free-standing HIV clinics in the United States, and serves on the HIV service as well as the General Infectious Disease Service at Ben Taub Hospital.

To complement her clinical activities, Dr. Flash conducted a prospective observational study to investigate changes in risk behavior and risk perception among heterosexuals and MSM and to examine indicators of retention and adherence in an HIV prevention program. She has been awarded a K23 career development award from the National Institute of Mental Health of NIH, to create a model for PrEP implementation among Black women in primary care settings. This builds on prior work in which she conducted a qualitative analysis of the acceptability of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among at-risk Black women in Boston, Massachusetts. Her work provided some of the earliest data on PrEP acceptability among U.S. women. She has also investigated national PrEP utilization data as well as attitudes towards PrEP among primary care providers in high-incidence, resource-limited settings in the US. Dr. Flash has also investigated the role of changes in HIV testing policy in advancing HIV prevention.

Dr. Flash serves as a reviewer for the CDC’s clinical guidelines: Preexposure Prophylaxis for the Prevention of HIV Infection in the United States. Dr. Flash serves on the CDC Women and PrEP Working Group. Dr. Flash provides consultation for the Houston Department of Health and Human Services PrEP Implementation activities and to the Black AIDS Institute Learning Collaborative for PrEP implementation. Dr. Flash mentors infectious disease fellows, medical residents, medical students, public health students and social work students.

Dr. Flash has a degree in Chemistry from Yale, an MD from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and an MPH in Quantitative Health Care Assessment from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Public Health. Dr. Flash then completed a combined residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Brown University, and a fellowship in adult Infectious Disease at Harvard University. Dr. Flash is board certified in Internal Medicine and adult Infectious Diseases.

Websites

Selected Publications

• Gaur S, Whitley-Williams P, Flash C, Jimenez E, Petrova A "Disparity in hospital utilization of rapid HIV-1 testing for women in labor with undocumented HIV status.." Matern Child Health J. 2010 Mar;14(2):268-73. Pubmed PMID: 19259801
• Jimenez M, Tan-Billet J, Babineau J, Jimenez JE, Billet T, Flash C, Levin S, West B, Tallia A "The Promise Clinic: a service learning approach to increasing access to health care.." J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2008 Aug;19(3):935-43. Pubmed PMID: 18677080
• Flash C, Krakower D, Mayer KH "The Promise of Antiretrovirals for HIV Prevention.." Curr Infect Dis Rep. 2012 Apr;14(2):185-93. Pubmed PMID: 22351302
• Flash, CA, Pasalar, S., Hemmige, V., Davila, J. A., Hallmark, C. J., McNeese, M., ... & Giordano, T. P. "Benefits of a routine opt-out HIV testing and linkage to care program for previously diagnosed patients in publicly funded emergency departments in Houston, TX.." JAIDS. 2015;69:S8-S15.

Projects

1. Developing an Implementation Program to Optimize Uptake of HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis among Black Women in Primary Care Settings

Memberships

HIVMA

(01/2016)

Infectious Disease Society of America

(01/2012)

International AIDS Society

(01/2011)

American College of Physicians

(07/2007)

American Medical Student Association

(07/2001 - 06/2006)

Skills

HIV

HIV Prevention

Pre-exposure Prophylaxis