Nearly half of all people with HIV experience some form of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder and the negative health impacts that accompany them.
July 27, 2026 | Erin Bluvas, bluvase@sc.edu
Medical advances in antiretroviral therapy mean that people with HIV are living longer, healthier lives with fewer symptoms. Since she arrived at the Arnold School as a postdoctoral fellow in 2018, health promotion, education, and behavior assistant professor Xueying Yang has been working to help people with HIV make the most of their longer lifespans by developing clinical and psychosocial understanding as well as improved treatment for this vulnerable population.
Along the way, Yang has tested and subsequently embraced emerging technologies and methods (e.g., machine learning) that reveal insights never possible before. Using a data science approach, she has analyzed statewide and nationwide datasets to look at the health of people living with HIV from numerous angles, including COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, initiation and retention of HIV care, and the transition from pediatric to adult HIV care.
With her latest National Institutes of Health grant of nearly $5.1 million, Yang will delve into a health challenge that accompanies the longer lifespan of individuals living with HIV: neurocognitive decline. The 1.1 million Americans living with the condition are vulnerable to some form of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder, which can have cascading impacts on medication adherence, risky decision-making, daily functioning, employment, long-term health outcomes, and overall quality of life.
Collaborating with researchers from the USC Floyd School of Medicine (including Leonardo Bonilha as multiple principal investigator) and College of Nursing, Yang’s project will use multimodal AI modeling and machine learning tools to aid in the prediction of which groups may be most at-risk to this type of decline. Her team will also use these methods to establish real-time monitoring of existing impairments and to inform clinical decision-making to help guide immediate treatment and long-term care through precision medicine.
“We’ve seen major reductions in the most progressive forms of HIV-related dementia; however nearly half of all people with HIV still experience some form of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder and the negative health impacts that accompany them,” Yang says. “The risk for neurocognitive decline in the aging HIV population is now among the most pressing issues for this group, and we need data to help us understand the risk factors and make informed decisions for moving forward.”
Adopting a multimodal approach that leverages data from NIH’s All of Us Research Program,
Yang will use AI to integrate numerous types of data (e.g., electronic health records,
such as laboratory results & medication history; brain imaging data, patient surveys;
social determinants of health; genetic history; mental health information; lifestyle
factors). By combining these data types, the researchers can produce much more accurate
predictions than by relying on a single source in isolation.
One of their primary goals is to identify the various subtypes of cognitive impairment
experienced by people living with HIV – looking for both characteristics and patterns.
They will also determine which factors (e.g., clinical, behavioral, genetic, mental,
social, environmental) can help scientists and clinicians predict who is most likely
to experience these impairments. The clinical decision support tool they plan to ultimately
create will aid healthcare providers in estimating a patient’s risk of cognitive impairment,
detecting these declines earlier, determining when intervention is needed, and providing
evidence-based guidance for care.
Moving beyond the data, the researchers will engage patients with HIV, community members,
policy makers, and HIV physicians and healthcare administrators to ensure all perspectives
are incorporated into the project. This collaborative approach will also enhance trust,
credibility, and transparency while encouraging real-world adoption of the study’s
findings and recommendations.
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