The Miami CFAR at the University of Miami (UM) lies at the epicenter of a geographic region that has been hardest-hit by the AIDS epidemic in a city with the highest incidence of new infections in the country. In this renewal application, with the continuing leadership of Savita Pahwa, MD as Director, and Margaret Fischl, MD, and Mario Stevenson, PhD as Co-Directors, the Miami CFAR has developed a compelling response to this threat. Now in its 5th year since receiving full CFAR designation in 2012, the work of the Miami CFAR has transformed the HIV/AIDS research enterprise at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, making it the highest funded area in the Medical School. It has garnered an exceptional level of institutional commitment (one third of direct costs in matching funds), leveraged additional State funding ($1million/year) and developed strong inter-departmental relationships, reflected in 10 strategic faculty recruitments in the current funding cycle and extraordinary support for our pilot programs. The three cornerstones of the Miami CFAR's mission are prevention, treatment and cure of HIV/AIDS, and it has six broad aims.
Aim 1. Provide scientific and administrative leadership to coordinate and promote innovative and timely HIV/AIDS research in high priority areas.
Aim 2. Leverage Institutional and State resources, develop partnerships and promote collaborations within UM to further the CFAR mission.
Aim 3. Maintain need-based and efficiently run Cores that provide critical services and develop innovative approaches for research aligned to our scientific agenda in step with NIH priorities.
Aim 4. Provide mentoring, training, education and research opportunities to junior investigators and stimulate new research/collaborations by established investigators who are not in the field.
Aim 5. Engage, inform and partner with our community, including vulnerable populations and State Health Department, to initiate/conduct research activities and Aim 6. Promote collaboration with other CFARs, networks, industry, institutions, and national and international programs for HIV/AIDS research. The Miami CFAR will play to the research strengths contained within the institution and beyond. These research strengths are grouped into scientific areas of research (SARs) that are directed towards our mission of HIV prevention, treatment and cure. Each SAR is comprised of investigators with complementary research interests each with two leaders. The seven SARs are: 1. HIV Prevention and Health Equity. 2. HIV and Women. 3. Cure/Reservoirs. 4. Vaccines and Immunology 5. AIDS Malignancies. 6. Co-morbidities and Co-Infections and 7. NeuroAIDS. The SARs will engage the entire HIV/AIDS research community and will be supported by our five Cores: Administrative (Core A), Developmental (Core B) and three Basic and Clinical Cores: Clinical Sciences (Core C), Laboratory Sciences (Core D) and Behavioral/Social Sciences and Community Outreach (Core E). We expect the pace of research at UM to continue to accelerate, as we avail of the immense opportunities and successfully confront challenges, so that we can truly make a mark towards achieving our goals.
The Miami CFAR's mission is to provide scientific leadership and infrastructure that, in partnership with the community, advances innovative multidisciplinary HIV/AIDS research in basic, clinical, epidemiological, behavioral/social sciences and translational research for the prevention, treatment and cure of HIV/AIDS. This will be accomplished through Cores that provide basic infrastructure support and by developing scientific focus groups addressing the most relevant areas in AIDS research that play to our strengths.
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