Reinvigorating HIV Prevention and Care for People Who Use Drugs: Accelerating Progress and Sustaining Gains in the Midst of Societal Disruption

Project Summary/Abstract – Administrative Core The Admin Core provides scientific leadership and administrative support to: 1) ensure that the overall aims of the Center and individual Cores are achieved, 2) enhance the productivity and impact of the studies in the research base, and 3) train and mentor our investigators to be successful and productive scientists. The Admin Core provides the resources and structure to address challenges in conceiving, planning, and conducting research, and to stimulate new research that is responsive to the NIH Office of AIDS Research high-priority research topics. The Core constantly seeks to increase our reach as a national resource to investigators working in the field of HIV and drug use. The Admin Core also strives to promote a collaborative, transdisciplinary intellectual environment for the entire CDUHR community. Doing so invites fuller participation, freer exchange of knowledge and ideas, and more effective responses to urgent public health problems. Three new initiatives were adopted by the Admin Core. First, a Visiting Scholars program was created that invites scientists who are expert in studying issues related to HIV and drug use to engage with us so that our investigators may learn from and potentially collaborate with them. Second, a new Community Coalition will advise the Center and our investigators regarding community concerns, research questions, and best practices for conducting studies with people who use drugs. Third, the Admin Core will prioritize more frequent and timely evaluation of Center activities in order to keep up with our investigators’ changing needs. Altogether, we believe that carrying forward our tried and tested approaches while routinely updating and improving how the Center functions will ensure that we achieve the Center’s aims. The specific aims of the Admin Core are to: 1) Ensure that the Center continues to serve as a resource to the field, including investigators, policy makers, and service providers and actively seek new ways that the Center can serve as a resource; 2) Provide scientific leadership and ensure integration and synergy across Cores by a) fostering transdisciplinary collaborations to reinvigorate HIV prevention and care for PWUD through Center activities that promote discussions of new ideas, such as emerging and ongoing Big Events and Trends (BE/BT), innovative and rigorous research methods, and high priority research questions and b) provide centralized resources for project activities and assisting with regulatory requirements to promote project efficiencies, and adapt to an evolving research environment that may be shaped by BE/BT; 3) Collaborate with community partners to improve the relevance and impact of knowledge generated through guidance from a newly formed Community Coalition; and 4) Formally evaluate Center activities so that we continue to meet the needs of affiliated investigators and the field.