1991

• Dr. Jack DeHovitz and Dr. Howard Minkoff establish the STAR Program with the overall goal of integrating HIV-related care, research and clinical education.
• SUNY’s University Hospital of Brooklyn becomes a New York State Designated AIDS Center.
• Development of the STAR Clinic (now STAR Health Center) – first outpatient HIV clinic on the SUNY Downstate campus – established with Ryan White Title III (now Part C) funding and institutional support.
• First year of the Women’s AIDS Cohort Study (WACS) – prospective NIH-supported study examining the manifestations of HIV disease in women under the direction of Dr. Howard Minkoff.
• Development of NIH-funded SUNY AIDS Clinical Trials Unit – first adult clinical trials unit in Brooklyn.

1992

• Development of Central/East European HIV Education Center through funding from the World AIDS Foundation.

1993

• Development of The HIV Center for Women and Children under the direction of Dr. DeHovitz to help coordinate the activities of all HIV-related programs directed by SUNY Downstate faculty.
• Development of the HIV Clinical Education Initiative – providing on-site training to area health care providers in HIV disease through funding from the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute.
• Development of the New York State International Training and Research Program (NYS-ITRP), focused on building HIV and infectious diseases research capacity in Central Europe and in later years, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, through funding from the Fogarty International Center.

1994

• The NIH funds the STAR Program as a site for the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) under the direction of Dr. Howard Minkoff. The WIHS replaces the WACS and is a collaborative, multi-site, longitudinal study to investigate the natural history of HIV infection in US women and represents one of the largest prospective cohort studies of HIV-positive and HIV-negative women in existence. The original six sites were located in California (Los Angeles, San Francisco), Chicago, IL, the Washington, DC area and New York City (Bronx and SUNY-DMC in Brooklyn).
• Development of the Co-Located HIV/Gynecologic Care Program – providing both HIV and gynecologic care to HIV infected women (now STAR-Downstate’s Family Centered Health Care program).

1995

• Two clinical textbooks, HIV Infection in Women and Primary Care of Women and Children with HIV: A Multidisciplinary Approach, edited by HIV Center faculty are published.
• The Maternal and Pediatric Services of Brooklyn (MAPS) program is funded through HRSA’s Special Projects of National Significance program to develop a model system for the prevention of perinatal HIV transmission at three Brooklyn hospitals

1998

• STAR Clinic consolidates with the in-patient HIV care unit at University Hospital of Brooklyn under the direction of Dr. DeHovitz.

1999

• STAR Clinic is renamed the STAR Health Center, reflecting a renewed vision of providing high quality interdisciplinary health care to all persons with HIV disease.
• The Special Treatment and Research (STAR) Program is awarded targeted Ryan White funding from a Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) initiative for a new outreach project entitled—Educating People at Risk (EPAR).

2000

• The CDC funds SUNY Downstate’s first large-scale, randomized community-based HIV/STD behavioral intervention project under the direction of Dr. Tracey Wilson.

2001

• The STAR Health Center receives funding for the development of the first clinic in Brooklyn for the treatment of people co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C.
• The STAR Health Center begins providing comprehensive mental health/substance use treatment through funding from the NYS Department of Health AIDS Institute.

2003

• Dr. Tracey Wilson is awarded 3 years of funding from the CDC to conduct “Implementation of IDSA/CDC Guidelines for HIV Prevention,” a demonstration project to assess the effectiveness of guidelines to incorporate sexual and drug use risk reduction activities into HIV care.

2006

• SAMHSA funding is received to develop and implement substance abuse, HIV and hepatitis prevention interventions for minority and reentry populations in Brooklyn.

2007

• The STAR Program is funded to establish a partnership with the Centre for Health Systems Research and Development at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa, establishing an “HIV/AIDS Twinning Center” to build capacity in HIV and TB research.
• Tracey Wilson, PhD, receives funding from the CDC to participate in a multi-center study of the effect of a clinic-wide intervention in HIV primary care.

2008

• STAR Health Center begins the provision of substance abuse treatment to both HIV+ and HIV- adults in Central Brooklyn through SAMHSA funding. Interventions included the use of buprenorphine, Seeking Safety and acupuncture.
• The Treatment Adherence Program is established to increase HIV treatment knowledge and adherence among HIV seropositive patients, and reduce HIV-associated morbidity and mortality.
• The STAR Program receives funding from the NYS Department of Health AIDS Institute to serve as a state-wide Prevention and Substance Use Center under the Clinical Education Initiative (CEI), providing state-of-the-art education and training workshops on prevention and substance use to front-line clinicians throughout New York State.

2009

• On December 1, 2009, SUNY Downstate commemorated a quarter century in the fight against HIV/AIDS with a special World AIDS Day program. The program, entitled “A Quarter Century of HIV Care, Prevention and Research,” featured opening remarks by John C. LaRosa, MD, SUNY Downstate’s President, who noted that “as part of Downstate’s 150th anniversary celebrations, we thought it fitting on World AIDS Day to look at what Downstate has accomplished in the fight against HIV/AIDS.” 

2010

• In collaboration with Family Medicine, the STAR Program implements Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) to prevent substance use and HIV in populations age 50 and above.
• Funded by Ryan White Part A, the Care Coordination Project is initiated in the STAR Health Center. The project utilizes intensive medical case management, including home visits and DOT to encourage maintenance in care and adherence to treatment.

2011

• The STAR Program receives funding through SUNY Stony Brook to develop a Brooklyn-based program to screen and treat first responders to the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center.
• Through HRSA funding, an HIV track in Categorical Medicine is established in collaboration with SUNY Downstate’s Internal Medicine Residency Program with the goal of training the next generation of physicians in the care and treatment of HIV.
• Through funding from the NYS Department of Health, the Adolescent Education Program begins implementation of two evidence-based interventions to prevent teenage pregnancy.

2013

• The STAR Health Center receives Level 3 recognition by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a patient-centered medical home (PCMH). Level 3 designation is the highest achievable recognition for a medical group, awarded only to programs that pass a rigorous review process.
• Funding is awarded by HRSA AETC for the development of an HIV Track in SUNY Downstate’s Physician Assistant program to expand the capacity of primary care providers to care for people with HIV.
• The NIH awards a 5th five-year cycle of funding to the Brooklyn site of the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), now under the direction of Dr. Howard Minkoff and Dr. Deborah Gustafson.
• Development of a social media project to reach men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender young adults at risk for substance use and HIV.

2014

• STAR Health Center begins provision of new services including high resolution anoscopy for the detection of anal dysplasia and anal cancer; provision of PrEP for HIV negative partners of people with HIV; and hormone therapy for transgender patients.

2015

• The Supportive Counseling and Family Stabilization project expands services to include home-based supportive counseling to encourage maintenance in care.
• Inauguration of STAR Health Center’s LGBTQ Health Initiative to provide primary medical care and to address specific medical and mental health needs of LGBTQ populations.
• Jessica Yager, MD, MPH, begins collaboration with Yale University on the NIDA-funded Working with HIV Clinics to adopt Addiction Treatments using Implementation Facilitation (WHAT IF?) research project.
• STAR is awarded funding from SAMHSA to create the SUNY Downstate SBIRT Training Center to train resident physicians and physician assistant and midwifery students in the College of Health Related Professions in the skills necessary to provide evidence-based screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) to patients who are at risk for a substance abuse disorder.

2016

• The Adolescent Education Program (AEP) is awarded funding to conduct the “AEP Youth Health Advocate” (YHA) Program. The AEP provides a wide range of HIV, STD, HCV, pregnancy and substance use prevention services to vulnerable minority youth ages 13-24.
• The STAR Program receives funding from NYC DOHMH through Public Health Solutions (PHS) for multiple initiatives: “Evidence-Based Interventions for Biomedical Prevention in Clinical Settings” via Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), including supportive services, care coordination, patient navigation, and clinical care; a Center of Excellence for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP); a Status-Neutral Care Coordination Program for HIV-negative individuals at risk; and harm reduction services to support HIV-positive individuals with current or past addiction, focusing on risk reduction and education.

2017

• The New York State International Training and Research Program (NYS-ITRP) was awarded an additional $1.5 million 5-year grant to develop and implement the “Ukraine HIV Research Training Program” to build capacity in implementation science research that addresses gaps in HIV care. 
• Under the direction of Dr. Jessica Yager, STAR Health Center was awarded funding from the NYS Department of Health AIDS Institute’s Corrections to Community Care Continuum. The project, named “Back to Brooklyn,” provides comprehensive medical care, behavioral health care and support services to previously incarcerated HIV+ individuals coming home to Brooklyn.

2018

• The “STAR Health Center Integrated Mental Health and Primary Care Services Project” is established with SAMHSA funding to identify and adults with a serious mental illness and/or co-occurring disorders and engage them in both primary care and behavioral health services at the STAR Health Center. 
• The STAR Program holds a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new primary care clinic for people living with HIV and AIDS at Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, part of One Brooklyn Health system. The new clinic, STAR Health Center-Brookdale (STAR-Brookdale) is a collaborative effort between SUNY Downstate and One Brooklyn Health. 

2019

• The STAR-Brookdale program is awarded a Gilead Foundation FOCUS grant which funded the integration of routine, opt-out HIV and HCV testing into clinical flow at six ambulatory care clinics and the Emergency Department. STAR-Downstate also received Gilead Foundation funding in 2022 to implement such testing at its ambulatory care centers and Emergency Department.
• A SAMHSA grant is obtained to train and certify medical, nurse practitioner, and physician assistant students in the administration of Medication Assisted Treatment for opioid addiction once they enter practice.
•  Sabina Hirshfield, PhD, receives funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to conduct “Supporting Treatment Adherence for Resilience and Thriving (START): A mHealth intervention to improve ART adherence for HIV-positive stimulant-using men.”

2020

• The NIH awards a $1.5 million, five-year grant to the STAR Program at SUNY Downstate, the University at Albany School of Public Health, and the Partnership for Research and Action for Health (PRAH), a non-governmental organization in the country of Georgia, to support research training to identify interventions to reduce HIV incidence in Georgia. 
• A three-year SAMHSA grant is received to train and certify medical, nurse practitioner, and physician assistant students in the administration of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction once they enter practice.
• The STAR Program receives an award of $250,000 from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) via Deloitte Consulting Overseas Projects, LLC to train Ukrainian health care administrators to develop health cadres with required skills to support effective management of healthcare.
• The Special Treatment and Research (STAR) Program was awarded a Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) grant of $645,000 over three years from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to expand rapid initiation of HIV antiretroviral therapy (ART) for newly diagnosed HIV patients at STAR-Brookdale. The purpose of the STAR-Brookdale Rapid ART Implementation Project is to develop a system to ensure accelerated entry into HIV medical care and rapid initiation of ART for people with HIV who are newly diagnosed, new to care, or out of care.

2021

• The Enhanced Data to Care Program (eD2C) at STAR-Brookdale, funded by the national Ending the Epidemic in the US initiative through NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene/Public Health Solutions, uses multiple data sources to identify, outreach, and re-engage PWH who are out of care, never in care or at risk of falling out of care; provides outreach, patient navigation and intensive case management to PWH who return to care at STAR-Brookdale.

• The New York State International Training and Research Program (NYS-ITRP) receives a five-year $1.5 million renewal award from the NIH that will allow NYS-ITRP to expand research training partnerships in Kazakhstan, the largest country in Central Asia. Since its launch, NYS-ITRP has sponsored HIV research training programs in eleven countries.

2022

• Several STAR Program participants in the NIAID-funded MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study contributed to I’m Still Surviving, a digital and print exhibition sharing the stories of 39 women living with HIV in the U.S. (https://stillsurviving.net). Launched on World AIDS Day 2020, the project—led by Dr. Jennifer Brier—explores themes of illness, resilience, and success. Originally based in Chicago, it expanded to Brooklyn and North Carolina with support from the MAC AIDS Foundation. A launch event was held at SUNY Downstate on May 18, 2022, Interviews appeared in The Body (https://www.thebody.com/article/still-surviving-exhibition-oral-history-women-hiv), and the book is available as print-on-demand or free PDFs at https://www.stillsurviving.net/read.

2023

• The Keith Haring Foundation awards funding to support needed renovations to the STAR Downstate health center. The grant enabled a reconfiguration of outdated clinic workspaces to maximize efficiency, privacy and patient flow, as well as significant aesthetic improvements. 

2024

• The Back to Brooklyn program, which provides immediate access to comprehensive medical care, behavioral health care and support services to the previously incarcerated, receives an award from the Mother Cabrini Foundation. This key funding enables expansion of the program’s eligibility to individuals with chronic conditions other than HIV and who are coming from New York City jails and other correctional facilities.
• Ashley Grosso, PhD, joins the STAR Program bringing her National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) study on the Ethics of HIV-related Research Involving Underage Key Populations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Jose Diaz, PhD, receives NIH sub-award in collaboration with the NY Blood Center, to study the impact of geographic mobility on PrEP and HIV care among Latino, gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.