Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research (CFAR)

Modified Project Summary/Abstract Section PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT OVERALL The Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research (Prov/Bos CFAR) promotes multi-disciplinary clinical, behavioral, translational, and basic science HIV research. The CFAR has been in existence since 1998. The last cycle was a new partnership between Brown University Health/Brown University (Brown) and Boston University/Boston Medical Center (BU/BMC) which was funded in 2017. The Prov/Bos CFAR collaborates with the Rhode Island Department of Health, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and community-based organizations in both states. The CFAR consists of 6 Cores (Administrative, Developmental, Clinical and Behavioral, Biostatistics, Substance Use and Basic Science); one Scientific Working Group: HIV and Oral Health; a Community Academic Partnership Initiative (CAPI) program and the CFAR-Community Engaged Research Council (C-CERC). The goals of the Prov/Bos CFAR over the next five years are aligned with the NIH HIV/AIDS priorities, supporting research to reduce the incidence of HIV and end the HIV epidemic (EHE). Specific goals of the Prov/Bos CFAR include: • Develop early stage HIV investigators (ESIs). • Among persons with HIV (PWH), address co-morbidities, co-infections and complications throughout the life cycle. • Develop the next generation of interventions and therapies towards HIV cure. • Create research collaborations with communities in Rhode Island (RI) and Massachusetts (MA) and extend what we learn in Southern New England to other sites across the United States (U.S.), including the southern U.S.—Arkansas (AR), Mississippi (MS), and Tennessee (TN). The Prov/Bos CFAR has strong institutional support which had led to over a 75% increase in our funded research base in the last cycle, hiring of 34 new faculty in HIV research, and an increase in the support for domestic developmental grantees. The Prov/Bos CFAR is growing and is a dynamic consortium of multidisciplinary innovative researchers who are working collaboratively to help end the HIV epidemic.