Implementation and Community Sciences Core (Core D)

Modified Project Summary/Abstract Section The UAB CFAR is at the forefront of research investigating organizational, psychosocial, and behavioral factors influencing the HIV prevention and treatment care continuum in high priority social, cultural, economic, geographical, and healthcare settings. The new Implementation and Community Sciences (ICS) Core, conceived in 2023, builds on the success and synergies of the UAB CFAR Ending HIV in Alabama Scientific Working Group (EHE SWG), the prior Behavioral and Community Sciences Core, and the Implementation Science (IS) Consultation Hub (one of 8 hubs within the CFAR Implementation Science Coordination Initiative). The ICS Core innovatively integrates implementation, community, and big data science to support and accelerate research consistent with NIH priorities and the goals of the national Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative. The aims of the ICS Core are to advance science by: 1) developing and enhancing the implementation science expertise and research capacity of the UAB CFAR investigative community; 2) enhancing the skills of community and academic investigators in both established and innovative community-based engagement and research methods; and 3) advancing methodological skills of researchers in big data science to innovatively utilize data collected through diverse platforms to better understand HIV transmission and clinical outcomes in community-engaged IS-informed projects to end the HIV epidemic. Impressive growth was achieved through synergies with the EHE SWG, retired Behavioral Sciences Core, and IS Hub that facilitated integration of HIV implementation, community-based, and big data science research at UAB – including CFAR Ending the HIV Epidemic supplements, K and R level grants, peer-reviewed publications – and strengthened capacity and relationships between HIV researchers and local community-based organizations. In addition to continuing successful programs and training opportunities in the next award period the ICS Core will add new programs: workshops featuring community-as-expert events, seminars on integrating implementation science, community engagement, and big data science, and interactive symposiums on the use of HIV surveillance data, commercial datasets, and geospatial methodologies to inform interventions along the status neutral HIV care continuum. The Core faculty will support HIV researchers to network and collaborate with community partners, develop and use culturally appropriate strategies to access hard-to-reach populations, and maintain meaningful partnerships with community members while conducting HIV research. Through these activities, the ICS Core is well-positioned to harness the expertise of its methodologically broad-based leadership team to design and implement new and innovative ways to end the HIV epidemic, while simultaneously training and mentoring the next generation of academic and community researchers.