Jul 06, 2016 06:20 AM EDT By Vinay Patel, UniversityHerald Reporter

Looks like Dr. Yzette Lanier who serves as an Assistant Professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing is on a roll as she was recently awarded a four-year, $1,200,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct a tri-phasic study to establish an evidence-informed HIV behavioral intervention that concentrates on Black heterosexually classified young couple.

A rather unconventional study slated to focus on determining HIV invasion strategies for Black heterosexual youth as couples in the South Bronx.

According to Dr. Lanier, there is a gaping hole in national attempts to keep HIV transmission at bay - heterosexual Black youth; especially males continue to be neglected. What's even more shocking, according to her is that young Black men and women are inordinately afflicted by HIV.

While young Black men who indulge in physical intimacy with men are at greatest risk for infection, there is a growing unease as far as youth with heterosexually acquired HIV infections is concerned.  About 35% of HIV infections among Blacks can be traced back to heterosexual contact, according to a post on New York University website.

In the initial two stages of the study dubbed, "The development of a couples-focused HIV behavioral intervention to enhance uptake of evidenced informed combination HIV preventative methods for high-risk heterosexually-identified Black youth and their romantic partners," Dr. Lanier intends to identify, how Black youth and their partner work out a deal as far as using HIV prevention methods, such as consistent condom use is concerned.

In order to do that, Dr. Lanier along with her team will organize qualitative interviews as phase one and  then quantitative surveys as phase two with Black couples residing in the three high poverty and HIV and poverty prevalence areas in the South Bronx.

Dr. Lanier explains that there is a lot of intentionality behind picking this sample population, NewsWise reported.

Dr. Lanier is slated to take an unconventional approach with her study by interviewing couples, as current HIV behavioral prevention interventions as principally depending on individuals' motivations of sexual behavior.

In the final part of her study, Dr. Lanier will make the most of the information her team compiled in the first two stages to come up with a socially and developmentally tailored, expandable, couples-centered and ingenious HIV preventative intervention strategy for heterosexually identified Black youth and their partners.

Expressing her gratitude on been awarded $1.2 million from CDC for HIV behavioral intervention based on couple's dynamics, Dr. Lanier said she was honored to receive the funding via MARI.

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