My entire professional career has been driven by the genuine commitment to provide high quality healthcare in the face of health inequities and social injustice. I started as a general practitioner providing healthcare in two underserved urban areas in Venezuela. Soon after I moved to the U.S., I became keenly aware of the challenges posed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and more so in the Latino communities. That led me to invest about a third of my carrier in HIV/AIDS education and health promotion with Latino communities. The rest of my career has been dedicated to building the capacity of the health care workforce (i.e., all members of the healthcare team) so they can provide high-quality care to underserved communities. While the focus of my work has been in HIV/AIDS, primary care has been at the forefront of my efforts. Over the past decade, as a Principal Investigator and Project Director, I have successfully led the implementation of multiple HRSA grants from the Bureaus of HIV/AIDS, Health Workforce, and Primary Health Care in HHS Regions V and VII. Every grant is aimed at building the capacity of the primary care workforce caring for underserved communities.

Selected Grants:

U1OHA29293-08-00 (Rivero, Linsk, Schechtman)
7/1/2019-6/30/2024
HRSA/HAB

AIDS EDUCATION AND TRAINING CENTER: The purpose of this program is to provide targeted, multidisciplinary education and training for health care professionals to provide health care services to people living with HIV (PLWH). The overarching goal of the AETC Program is to increase the number of health care providers who are educated and motivated to counsel, diagnose, treat, and medically manage PLWH and to help prevent HIV transmission. It is a regional program implemented in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Role: Principal Investigator
6/1/2022-5/31/2024
U01PS005214-01-00 (Wagner, Rivero)
CDC/Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

SCALE UP OF AN EVIDENCE-BASED INTERVENTION TO PROMOTE HIV MEDICATION ADHERENCE: The proposed implementation science research study focuses on the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative Treating people with HIV rapidly and effectively to reach sustained viral suppression by delivering an evidence-based intervention to improve ART adherence, retention in care and sustained viral suppression among racial/ethnic minority youth, inclusive of young gay, bisexual and other MSM, young cisgender women and young transgender women across multiple sites.

Role: Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center Co-Principal Investigator

T13HP31910‐05‐01 (Rivero, Hasnain, Potter, Figueroa)
9/1/2018-8/31/2023
HRSA/BHW

PRIMARY CARE TRAINING AND ENHANCEMENT: TRAINING PRIMARY CARE CHAMPIONS PROGRAM: The purpose of this program is to strengthen primary care and the workforce by establishing fellowship programs to train community-based practicing primary care physician and/or physician assistant champions to lead health care transformation and enhance teaching in community–based settings.

Role: Principal Investigator/Project Director

U1OHA32109-05-00 (Rivero, Wagner)
9/1/2022-8/31/2027
HRSA/HAB

INTEGRATING THE NATIONAL HIV CURRICULUM E-LEARNING PLATFORM INTO HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONS PROGRAMS. This opportunity supports integration of the National HIV Curriculum e-Learning Platform into the education and training curricula of select health professions programs, with an emphasis on medical, nursing, and pharmacy graduate and residency programs of family medicine and dentistry. The purpose of this initiative is to enhance the quality of HIV education and training at multiple health professions institutions and increase the number of competent health care professionals to manage the treatment and care of people with HIV.

Role: Co-Principal Investigator/Project Director

H1LHA373370100 (Rivero)
4/1/2020-8/31/2022
HRSA/HAB

CORONAVIRUS AID, RELIEF AND ECONOMIC SECURITY ACT PROJECT. To support activities to ensure that HIV healthcare organizations and professionals have timely access to the most current training and technical assistance needed to address COVID-19 related issues impacting people with or at risk for HIV.

Role: Principal Investigator/Project Director

Carlberg-Racich, S., Rivero, R., Wagner, C., Schechtman B., Alabduljabbar, SA., Scherer, R., Hasnain, M., Gier, E., Linsk, NL. (2023) Long Term Workforce Impacts of the Clinician Scholars Program along the HIV Care Continuum. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Carlberg-Racich, S., Wagner, C., Alabduljabbar, SA., Rivero, R., Hasnain, M., Scherer, R., Linsk, NL. (2018) Professional Identity Formation in HIV Care: Development of Clinician Scholars in a Longitudinal, Mentored Training Program. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, Vol. 38, Issue 3, p158-164.

Wagner, C; Carlberg-Racich, S; Linsk, N; Scherer, R; Alabduljabbar, S; Hasnain, M; Rivero, R. (2017) Impacts of longitudinal mentorship to strengthen the HIV Workforce: Qualitative evidence of changes in clinicians’ knowledge, attitudes, and practice. The Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (JANAC), Nov 2017, vol. 28, pp. 938-952.

Boehler, M., Schechtman B., Rivero R., Jacob B-A., Sherer R., Wagner C., Alabduljabbar S., Linsk, N.L. (2016) Developing the HIV workforce: The MATEC Clinician Scholars Program. Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. 27:3, 246-260

Bashook, P. G., Linsk, N. L., Jacob, B., Aguado, P., Edison, M., Rivero, R., Schechtman, B., Prabhughate, P.  (2010) Outcomes of AIDS education and training center HIV/AIDS skill-building workshops on provider practices. AIDS Education and Prevention, 22:1, 49-60

Rivero, R. Developing the HIV Workforce: The MATEC Clinician Scholars Program. CDC/HRSA Advisory Committee on HIV, Viral Hepatitis and STD Prevention and Treatment (CHAC), 2023

Rivero, R., Wagner, C., Gossett, K. Midwest Integration of the National HIV Curriculum. Health Resources and Services Administration, HIV AIDS Bureau, AETC NHC Programs Meeting, 2022

Chow, W., Rajabiun, S., Poker, A., Rivero, R., Haro, T., Keehn, M., Campbell, K., Burdge, J. Building the HIV Workforce “On the Ground” From the National AIDS Education and Training Centers Program. National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care and Treatment. Virtual conference, 2020

Gossett, K., Rivero, R., Wagner, C. To What Extent is HIV Medicine Taught in Health Professional Academic Programs? National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care and Treatment. Virtual conference, 2020

Wagner, C., Gossett, K., Rivero, R. Lessons Learned from Integrating the National HIV Curriculum at 24 Midwestern Health Profession Programs. National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care and Treatment. Virtual conference, 2020

Rivero, R., Boccher-Lattimore, D., Frank, L., Chow, P. HIV Healthcare Workforce Capacity: Assessing and Addressing Needs/Gaps that Impact HIV Care Service Delivery Systems. National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care and Treatment, Washington DC, 2018.

Nelson, J., Donohoe, T., Cook, P., Prihoda, L., Burdge, J., Rivero, R., Frank, L., Bolduc, P. Building the Future of the HIV Workforce HIV Interprofessional Education Efforts Across the United States. National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care and Treatment, Washington DC, 2018.