Professor
Co-Investigator, Pitt Men's Study
Director, Pennsylvania Prevention Project


Email: tonys@pitt.edu
Phone: 412-624-5080
Fax: 412-383-1513

Address:
400 Keystone
3520 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Education

BA; Kings College; 1969
MA; Pennsylvania State University; 1974
PhD; University of Pittsburgh; 1992


Research Interests

HIV/AIDS, Sexuality, Human Diversity and Public Health, and Sexual Orientation


Research Summary

Dr. Silvestre's research focuses on HIV prevention, particularly infection, compliance with safer-sex recommendations, and rates of infection among gay men.

Dr. Silvestre is a co-investigator for the Pitt Men's Study, which since 1983 has been characterizing the natural history of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome in gay and bisexual men.

In addition, he is directing the Pennsylvania Prevention Project, which is studying HIV-prevention knowledge, attitudes, and access to service of people at risk of HIV infection, and of HIV experts throughout the state, excluding Philadelphia. This study, using focus groups and interviews, and funded by the CDC and state Department of Health, is being used to develop an HIV-prevention plan for Pennsylvania. He has also established a system to evaluate existing HIV-prevention programs and HIV testing and counseling sites.

Dr. Silvestre also is the director of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Research on Health and Sexual Orientation. In that role, the Center's focus is encouraging research among its members, consulting with University faculty interested in including sexual orientation in their research, and mentoring students. Dr. Silvestre has an ongoing project collecting oral histories of lesbians and gay men in Pennsylvnia and archiving materials from the Governor's Council for Sexual Minorities. He is also studying diversity and recruiting minorities and women into research.

He teaches a course on Diversity and Public Health and co-directs the School's Certificate Program in LGBT Health.


Recent Publications

Wei C; Raymond F; Wong FY; Silvestre AJ; Friedman MS; Documet P; McFarland W; Stall R. Lower HIV prevalence among Asian/Pacific Islander men who have sex with men: A critical review for possible reasons. AIDS Behavior, 2010, DOI 10.1007/s10461-010-9855-0.

Guadamuz TE, Lim SH, Marshal MP, Friedman MS, Stall R, Silvestre AJ. Trends of overweight and obesity among a cohort of HIV-negative men who have sex with other men in Pittsburgh, PA 1999-2007. Manuscript accepted, 2010.

Lim S H, Spencer SM, Kim K, Stall R, Markovic N, Silvestre AJ:  Changing Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms among Middle-Aged and Older Gay and Bisexual Men. Manuscript submitted, 2010.

 Lim S H, Spencer SM, Kim K, Stall R, Markovic N, Silvestre AJ: Middle-aged and older men who have sex with men exhibit multiple trajectories with respect to the number of sexual partners. Accepted for Publication, AIDS and Behavior, 2011.

Burke J, Lim Sh, Kim K, Stall R, Silvestre AJ: Trajectories of frequent drug use among aging men who have sex with men in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study. Submitted to Addiction, 2011.

Silvestre AJ, Arrowood S, 2005, Strategies for improving state, county, and city government health and welfare services for LGBT people. in Shankle M., (ed.), The Handbook of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Public Health: A Practitioner's Guide to Service, Haworth Press, Binghamton, NY.

Friedman, M.S., Koeske, G.F., Silvestre, AJ, Korr, W.S., & Sites, E.W. The impact of gender-role nonconforming behavior, bullying and social support on suicidality among gay male youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 2006, 28(5), 621-623.

Silvestre AJ, Hilton J, Johnson L, Houston C, Jacobson L, Ostrow D; Minority MSM Recruitment into the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study American Journal of Public Health, June 2006.

Chenglong Liu, Jacobson LP; Ostrow D; Johnson L; Silvestre AJ; Visscher B: Predictors for Lower Quality of Life in the HAART Era among HIV-infected Men, JAIDS, 42(4):470-7, 2006.

Moyer M, Lombardi E, Taylor C, Silvestre AJ: High-Risk Behaviors among Youth and their Reasons for Not Getting Tested for HIV, Journal of HIV/AIDS Prevention in Children and Youth, 8:1, 2007.

D’Souza G, Cook RL, Ostrow D, Johnson-Hill L, Wiley D, Silvestre A: Anal cancer screening behaviors and intentions in men who have sex with men. Journal of General Internal Medicine, DO1:10.1007/s11606-008-0698-6, 2008

Lombardi, E., Silvestre, A. J., Janosky, J. E., Fisher, G., & Rinaldo, C. Impact of early sexual debut on gay men's tobacco use. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 10(11), 1591 – 1595, 2008.

Oh DL, Sarafian F, Detels R, Silvestre AJ :Evaluation of adherence and factors affecting adherence to combination antiretroviral therapy among White, Latino, and Black men in the MACS cohort. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 2009.

Silvestre AJ, Quinn SC, Rinaldo CR: A twenty-two year old Community Advisory Board: A content analysis. Journal of Community Practice, 18 (1), 2010.

Ramachandran S, Burke JG, Yonas MA, Silvestre AJ: Intimate partner violence among HIV positive persons in a primary care setting. AIDS Care, 2010.