The aims of the UCSF-GIVI CFAR are to support a multi-disciplinary environment that promotes basic, clinical, epidemiologic, behavioral, and translational research in the prevention, detection, and treatment of HIV infection and AIDS and to further the programs of NIH institutes by providing unique and effectively managed activities propelling HIV research. CFAR applies effective leadership, open communications, educational opportunities, sound resource management, and strategic planning to link CFAR members across sites and scientific disciplines. The Center's leadership is committed to proactive management, transparency and continued program monitoring, evaluation, and readjustment. CFAR maintains an effective partnership with the UCSF AIDS Research Institute and with the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies. To catalyze multidisciplinary research, the Center manages six scientific cores (Clinical and Population Sciences, Immunology, Virology, Specimen Banking, Pharmacology, and International). The Clinical and Population Sciences Core facilitates access to appropriate clinical cohorts. The International Core, focused on a growing portfolio in Uganda, will build in-country capacity and collaborate with the Fogarty International Center in training. Expansion to other African sites is expected. Core Directors are charged with member outreach and soliciting new investigators to take advantage of the cutting edge technologies and assays available within the cores. Success of the scientific cores is assessed by the quality of the multidisciplinary science they stimulate and by the publications and successful grants to which they contribute. The CFAR Administrative Core maintains an electronic network, including videoconferencing, to connect and inform all CFAR members, organizes scientific seminars and symposia, and implements financial systems to monitor and report all CFAR funds, ensuring maximum CFAR effectiveness. The Developmental Core funds pilot and basic science grants. It supports the next generation of HIV science through mentored pilot grants and an extremely successful and ambitious formal mentoring program. The success of the UCSF-GIVI CFAR is evident in the scientific accomplishments of its investigators, its ability to galvanize fundamentally new science through its focus on innovative multidisciplinary HIV research, and the significant institutional support it receives from UCSF, the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the J. David Gladstone Institutes. CORE A: Administrative (Volberding, Paul) CORE A DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Administrative Core provides the scientific leadership and governance, educational and collaborative opportunities, resource management and strategic and implementation activities that allow CFAR scientists to achieve their scientific potential through productive, multidisciplinary collaborations.
The specific aims of the Administrative Core are to: 1. Provide scientific leadership and governance that reflects the scientific and geographic diversity of HIV research in San Francisco 2. Provide all CFAR members with educational and collaborative opportunities that encourage and facilitate collaborative, cross-disciplinary investigations 3. Provide effective resource management to allow the most effective and efficient use of resources to support Core services and other programs 4. Conduct regular, ongoing strategic planning and program evaluation;and solicit internal and external advice on Center operations. The Administrative Core has established an organizational structure and an array of services that enhance the ability of CFAR scientists to conduct significant, innovative translational HIV research in support of the CFAR mission. The Administrative Core achieves its specific aims through frequent and regular meetings of the CFAR leaders, administrators and advisory groups, and by producing a variety of educational opportunities for CFAR members including a University-wide seminar series and annual scientific symposia to facilitate collaborative science and to mitigate the challenges of the several locations of member's research in San Francisco and abroad. The Core communicates with members via email and other means to announce seminars, symposia and other educational and scientific events. The Core has also developed a highly effective financial management system that enables the CFAR leadership to closely monitor CFAR funds and other resources, and to reallocate monies to support high-priority research initiatives identified through strategic planning, thereby ensuring that CFAR resources are used to maximum benefit. To ensure the overall effectiveness of the UCSF-GIVI CFAR, the Core coordinates an ongoing internal and external evaluation process through quarterly planning sessions and annual strategic planning that involve CFAR leadership, investigators and staff, and an annual review by an External Advisory Committee composed of nationally recognized scientists and clinicians.
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