This proposal responds to PAS-06-447 entitled Mentoring Programs to Diversify Mental Health HIV/AIDS Research Workforce through Innovative Educational Initiatives that highlights a need to """"""""develop new and improved research mentorship for racial/ethnic minority (REM) individuals focused on HIV/AIDS disparities issues and/or to establish a network of senior mentors for REM mentees."""""""" This application proposes to develop and facilitate the growth of a new cadre-4 per year for a total of 12-of REM scientists capable of serving as PIs on extramurally funded studies in the areas of HIV prevention research on the co-occurring problems of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), trauma and related mental health issues among REM groups and on the design of HIV culturally-congruent prevention interventions to address these co-occurring problems that reflect and drive health disparities. The proposed program will have a strong set of research training activities and a network of committed and active mentors for promising REM trainees. It will be led by Drs. Nabila El-Bassel and Elwin Wu from the Columbia University School of Social Work (CUSSW), and Dr. Alex Carballo-Dieguez from the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at Columbia University. An existing network of 22 senior HIV and mental health researchers-the majority of whom are people of color-have been recruited and committed to (1) serve as mentors, (2) recruit promising REM trainees for the program, and (3) recruit additional mentors. The proposed training program will utilize the research resources and infrastructure at the CUSSW Social Intervention Group (SIG). Directed by Dr. El-Bassel, SIG's goal is to develop innovative, culturally-congruent, integrated interventions to address the co-occurring issues of HIV, substance abuse, violence/trauma, and PTSD in low income, REM communities. The training program will also be conducted in collaboration with the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at Columbia University, Directed by Dr. Anke Ehrhardt. The HIV Center serves as a national and international hub for a network of more than 100 researchers, clinicians. This training program will also be conducted in collaboration with the Columbia Center for Homelessness Prevention Studies (CCHPS), Directed by Dr. Carol Carton. CCHPS is a multidisciplinary effort to develop ways to prevent chronic homelessness among people with severe mental illness and on Health disparities such HIV. Finally, it will be conducted in collaboration with the Columbia Center for the Health of Urban Minorities (CHUM), Directed by Dr. Olveen Carrasquillo. CHUM's mission is to promote minority health. All these Centers have been collaborating on HIV, trauma/PTSD, and/or health disparities research and have designed mechanisms of collaborations that would serve vehicles of training of the REM new investigators.
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