Admin Core

A multi-institutional, international, and integrated endeavor, the “KS in the Era of ART in Africa Program (KEAAP)” will leverage the research and training expertise of collaborating institutions from the U.S. and two African countries: the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans (LSUHSC-NO), the Cancer Diseases Hospital (CDH) and the University Teaching Hospitals (UTH) of Zambia, and the Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to form an HIV-Associated Malignancy Research Center (HAMRC) that focuses on the research gaps of the Kaposi sarcoma (KS) disease. Building on the success of their previous collaborations, these institutions will synergize their efforts under one overarching research theme that focuses on the KS disease spectrum, from detection, to care and outcomes, to deciphering KS pathogenesis and immune response. The immediate goal is to 1) implement a program to better integrate KS diagnostic, clinical and research activities within the HIV-1 care and treatment networks in both countries; 2) define stage- and treatment-associated immunologic and metabolomics biomarkers across the spectrum of KS disease presentation; and 3) define the magnitude and breadth of Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) latent viral reservoirs in tissues of KSHV infected people living with HIV, so that these reservoirs could be targeted for prevention of viral reactivation to prevent KS. To achieve this goal and promote synergy and coordination across partnering institutions, KEAAP will establish an Administrative Core, based at LSUHSC-NO with satellite locations at UTH/CDH, and ORCI, that will provide the administrative support needed to ensure that KEAAP’s three research projects, Shared Resource Core (Data Management and Integration Core), and Career Development Core can accomplish their individual and collective goals while functioning in a coordinated manner. The Administrative Core will pursue four specific aims. 1) Provide the administrative expertise and resources necessary to support the consortium’s research projects and cores and the pilot projects to accomplish their goals and specific aims. 2) Implement a consortium-wide series of operational processes designed to create a collaborative research environment, promote data sharing and dissemination of results, and build capacity for increased self-sufficiency at cancer research institutions in Tanzania and Zambia. 3) Provide communications infrastructure to engage key stakeholders, to promote the consortium, and disseminate information and research outcomes that will inform healthy policy changes locally, and globally. The organization of the Administrative Core is designed to be adaptable and robust – attributes that are essential to address the broad mission and complex relationships within KEAAP, among collaborating institutions, and with NIH. The core will focus on meeting the needs of the collaborators in a climate of rapidly changing scientific and technological advances in order to promote a sustainable consortium with vibrant research programs that work toward the reduction of cancer in sub-Saharan Africa.