{"id":5929,"date":"2016-02-17T13:37:07","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T18:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/?page_id=5929"},"modified":"2016-02-23T08:37:46","modified_gmt":"2016-02-23T13:37:46","slug":"spotlight-onmarina-vetrova","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/spotlight-onmarina-vetrova\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on\u2026Marina Vetrova"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marina Vetrova, MD, research assessor for the Russia ARCH and ZINC studies and trainee with Yale University\u2019s Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

As told to URBAN ARCH Admin Core staff, August\u00a02015<\/em><\/p>\n

\"marina<\/a><\/p>\n

l-r: Carly Bridden, Marina Vetrova, and Natalia Gnatienko <\/em>during Marina’s visit to Boston<\/em><\/p>\n

Can you tell us a little bit about your clinical background?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am a clinical psychiatrist. For three years, I was studying psychiatry, with a focus on addiction and the comorbidities of these diseases. I am originally from Volgograd, and I finished my medical degree there. I then moved to St. Petersburg and started an internship at\u00a0Bekhterev Psychoneurological Scientific Research Institute. Additionally, I have experience working in an\u00a0addiction clinic, but for part of my work, I was also working in a\u00a0government clinic. It was a good experience, because I was\u00a0working with different organizations.<\/p>\n

How did you get involved with URBAN ARCH and ZINC projects?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I started working at Yale University, these were\u00a0the main projects\u00a0that I was involved with. It\u00a0was my first time learning about research, and I was ready to work as a researcher. For now, I have less clinical work to do, and I am more focused on the research. I worked on clinical trials at Yale, and I think they are the golden standard in research, because you can follow everything and you are not just observing \u2013 you play an active role in the process.<\/p>\n

What is your role in Russia ARCH and ZINC? What do you like most about your position? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I am an assessor. I enroll people who want to participate in the study. I don\u2019t just work with documents and papers, which is common\u00a0for researchers. This work has allowed me to work with people. Originally, I wanted to do these things, because I like people. I enjoy it, and sometimes, we have participants that are very interesting. I like talking to them and knowing about their lives and how they\u2019ve changed. I also have the pleasure of working in my own space \u2013 so I like that too! It\u2019s always organized. It was a change for me the first time, because you have to keep in mind so much stuff. But, the more often I do it now, it has become more enjoyable and less stressful.<\/p>\n

\"russia<\/a><\/p>\n

l-r: Marina Vetrova\u00a0with fellow Russia ZINC assessor, Vladimir Palatkin<\/em><\/p>\n

What do you find to be the most challenging in your role as a research assessor?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think follow-up is an issue, and we try to do our best to find people, but for this specific population, it is hard. We try to find a way to get higher adherence on the medication in this study. I think that\u2019s the hardest part for now.<\/p>\n

Do you think zinc will be effective in slowing HIV disease progression? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes. For me, I believe it can work, but I\u2019m not 100% sure. But of course it\u2019s not like ART. Zinc is good for your immune system, but it\u2019s not like if they skip it, it\u2019s bad. It does improve your immune system, and there are not a lot of risks.<\/p>\n

Why do you think participants are interested in enrolling in the ZINC trial?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it is because the participants are invited to enroll. Some of them do it just for money, and some do it because they care about the\u00a0trial. This proportion of participants want to try to find new information about HIV and find available treatment for HIV. Some of them also don\u2019t want to start ART, and that\u2019s why they agree to participate. I think they just want to try something new.<\/p>\n

Tell us one surprising thing about yourself. What do you like to do in your free time? <\/strong><\/p>\n

A\u00a0few weeks ago, I tried paratriking. It\u2019s not a parachute, but it\u2019s something where you wish you can fly. There is a driver and one person who sits behind the driver. You go up from the ground, to 15 meters in the air. The most interesting thing is that when you\u2019re in a rush and want to go down, you think you\u2019re going to crash, but you really don\u2019t. I really like to fly so maybe next time, I\u2019ll try a parachute. I\u2019m an extreme person. I like rollercoasters, too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marina Vetrova, MD, research assessor for the Russia ARCH and ZINC studies and trainee with Yale University\u2019s Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS As told to URBAN ARCH Admin Core staff, August\u00a02015 l-r: Carly Bridden, Marina Vetrova, and Natalia Gnatienko during Marina’s visit to Boston Can you tell us a little bit about your clinical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10451,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5929"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10451"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5929"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6048,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5929\/revisions\/6048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urbanarch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}