As part of the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE): A Plan for America initiative, the University of Washington/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) received $1.2 million to fund five research projects. This initiative allocates funding to HIV research with the goal of reducing new infections in the United States by 90 percent by 2030.
“CFAR aims to leverage the powerful data and tools we now have to reduce new HIV infections,” said Susan Mello, associate director of UW/Fred Hutch CFAR. “These awards are part of a larger effort by the federal government to end the HIV epidemic. This effort was announced in a State of the Union address on February 5, 2019.”
The five University of Washington projects will focus on communities in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and locally in King County. The purpose of the work is to collaborate with community partners to develop locally relevant diagnosis, treatment, and prevention plans.
“The UW/Fred Hutch CFAR will deploy awarded investigators to conduct these five projects within the next nine months,” Mello said. “The projects will also strengthen existing collaborations with external partners, which we hope will further expand with additional funding from this initiative in the coming years.”
The larger CFAR network, which spans 23 institutions across the United States, addresses four core pillars: diagnose, treat, prevent, and respond. Funding for these projects comes from the National Institutes of Health.
The five EHE awardees from UW are affiliated with multiple departments on campus and represent an array of research topics.
University of Washington EHE Awardees
Matthew Golden
University of Washington, Department of Medicine, Allergy and Infectious Diseases (AID) Division
Project Title: Integrated Real-time Care Reengagement and Low Barrier Care to Improve HIV Treatment
Community Partners: Five Departments of Health in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi
Roxanne Kerani
University of Washington, Department of Medicine, AID Division
Project Title: Developing an Intervention to Interrupt Transmission in Molecular HIV Clusters
Community Partner: Public Health Seattle/King County
Christine Khosropour
University of Washington, Department of Epidemiology
Project Title: Optimizing health department services to increase viral suppression in rural MS
Community Partner: Mississippi State Department of Health; University of Mississippi Medical Center
Rena Patel
University of Washington, Department of Medicine, AID Division
Project Title: Working together to strengthen access to health care for African-born persons through integrated community-based health screening programs: Harambee!
Community Partner: Somali Health Board
Joanne Stekler
University of Washington, Department of Medicine, AID Division
Project Title: Providing PrEP through CBOs Using Telehealth and Commercial Pharmacies
Community Partners: Gay City; People of Color Against AIDS Network (POCAAN)
To learn more about CFAR, visit http://depts.washington.edu/cfar/.
Click here for more information on the recent CFAR funding from the National Institutes of Health, and here for information on the EHE initiative.