Psychology Professor Receives $435,000 Federal Funding to Study Individuals with HIV+

California State University, Northridge assistant professor of psychology Alyssa Arentoft, is spending the next three years examining health risk behavior and neurocognitive functioning in those who have the human immunodeficiency virus.

At the end of that time, she is hoping her findings will provide insight into how to predict risky behavior in those who are HIV positive, as well as add to the body of research on how to improve the lives of those living with the disease.

“HIV was only discovered in the 1980s,” Arentoft said, “and much of the early research, until the late 1990s, early 2000s, concentrated on how to keep people alive. Since effective, antiretroviral treatment has been developed, people are  now able to live long-term with HIV. Research has now shifted to looking at the long-term impact on the lives of those who have HIV. We now have a chance to ask questions that we couldn’t ask before.”

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