The UW/FHCRC Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Developmental Core is delighted to announce this year’s New Investigator Awards. 

The purpose of the CFAR New Investigator award program is to encourage junior investigators (at a senior stage of training or recently independent) to conduct independent research, acquire preliminary date to use for exogenous grant submissions, receive mentorship, and write one or more grants to obtain funding to continue their HIV/AIDS research careers. Awards are for 1 or 2 years, and can be up to $45,000/year (direct costs) for non-interdisciplinary applications or up to $55,000/year for interdisciplinary projects.

The proposals were recently reviewed by the CFAR Executive Committee, along with both internal and outside reviewers. We are excited to announce that we have chosen the following awardees and look forward to seeing the results of their projects:

2015 CFAR New Investigator Awards

Economic and Behavioral Psychological Determinants of the Demand for Medical Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention

Joseph Babigumira, MBChB, MS, PhD
Assistant Professor, Global Health
University of Washington

Mentor: Lou Garrison, University of Washington

Point-of-care viral load testing to enable task shifting for chronic HIV care

Paul Drain, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Global Health
University of Washington

Mentor: Connie Celum, University of Washington

Oral home-based HIV testing for repeat maternal HIV testing in Kenya

Alison Drake, MPH, PhD
Acting Assistant Professor, Global Health
University of Washington

Mentor: Grace John-Stewart, University of Washington

Statistical Assessment of HIV-1 Integration Bias: A Comparative Study

Paul Edlefsen, PhD
Assistant Member, Statistical Center for HIV Research and Prevention
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Affiliate Assistant Professor, Biostatistics

Mentor: Peter Gilbert, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Evaluation of TB rule-out tests to improve IPT uptake in people living with HIV

David Horne, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
University of Washington

Mentor: Ruanne Barnabas, University of Washington

Evaluation of oral swab analysis (OSA) as a novel alternative to sputum analysis for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in women, adolescents, and HIV-infected individuals

Sylvia LaCourse, MD, MPH
Senior Fellow/Acting Instructor, Infectious Diseases
University of Washington

Mentor: Grace John-Stewart, University of Washington

Towards HIV Elimination in Kenya: A Study of ART Retention under Option B+

Nancy Puttkammer, MPH, PhD
Acting Assistant Professor, Health Sciences
University of Washington

Mentor: Carey Farquhar, University of Washington

For more information, visit the CFAR website.