This application proposes formation of a four-institution consortium, the Eastern Prevention Trials Unit (EPTU) consisting of Yale University School of Public Health (New Haven, CT), State University of New York/Downstate Medical Center (SUNY-DMC) (Brooklyn, NY), the Biomedical Center on AIDS/St. Petersburg State University (SPSU) (St. Petersburg, Russia) and the Center for AIDS Intervention Research (CAIR) at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) (Milwaukee, WI). The investigators propose to enroll into HPTN protocols suitable individuals residing in Connecticut, Brooklyn and St. Petersburg, Russia. MCW will contribute expertise in community-based behavioral intervention studies to the EPTU, particularly in Russia. All four institutions have overlapping geographical and research interests in HIV prevention in the eastern US (ongoing joint studies) and Eastern Europe (AIDS International Training and Research Programs in Russia [Yale/MCW/SPSU] and Eastern Europe [SUNY-DMC]). The EPTU could contribute to the HPTN by: (1) identifying effective prevention strategies; and (2) facilitating their evaluation through the Unit's large international population capacity (population base of 6 million in Connecticut and Brooklyn and 6 million in St. Petersburg). Large segments of this population base have high HIV incidence rates driven by political, economic, social, and demographic instability. The application attributes four significant strengths to the proposed consortium. First, it could provide access to populations in which the HIV epidemic is still in its early phases (St. Petersburg) and in which the epidemic has matured (Brooklyn and Connecticut). Second, it has HIV prevention research management skills and on-site expertise needed to recruit and retain these populations in prevention intervention trials. Third, it has the national and international theoretical and practical scientific expertise to assist the HPTN in carrying out its extensive and complex mandate. Fourth, the EPTU has the capacity to expand to increase the number of high-risk or infected individuals for enrollment in larger prevention intervention studies. The Yale/MCW/SPSU St. Petersburg AITRPP has established linkage points with critical non-governmental organizations (NGOs) throughout Russia concerned about AIDS. The AITRP at SUNY-DMC has similar connections that can foster expansion to sites in Poland. Project SIDA in Kinshasa, Congo, is an additional possible collaborator that could be brought into the EPTU should HPTN supplemental funds become available at a later date.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project--Cooperative Agreements (U01)
Project #
7U01AI047987-02
Application #
6408586
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAI1-KWR-A (M1))
Program Officer
Gross, Michael
Project Start
2000-07-01
Project End
2005-06-30
Budget Start
2000-08-15
Budget End
2001-06-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$1,399,999
Indirect Cost
Name
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Department
Public Health & Prev Medicine
Type
Schools of Public Health
DUNS #
078861598
City
Chapel Hill
State
NC
Country
United States
Zip Code
27599
Heimer, Robert; Barbour, Russell; Shaboltas, Alla V et al. (2008) Spatial distribution of HIV prevalence and incidence among injection drugs users in St Petersburg: implications for HIV transmission. AIDS 22:123-30
Shaboltas, Alla V; Toussova, Olga V; Hoffman, Irving F et al. (2006) HIV prevalence, sociodemographic, and behavioral correlates and recruitment methods among injection drug users in St. Petersburg, Russia. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 41:657-63