In the fourth decade of the HIV epidemic, many questions remain about how alcohol use affects HIV clinical manifestations and how treatments beyond ART might mitigate alcohol-related harms. Such questions about the complex relationship between HIV and alcohol need to be addressed in order to accelerate the development of more effective treatments. The Uganda Russia Boston Alcohol Network for Alcohol Research Collaboration on HIV/AIDS (URBAN ARCH) Consortium will carry out cohort and intervention studies under the leadership of the Administrative Coordinating Core (Admin Core) to address gaps in our understanding about HIV and alcohol. The central goal of the URBAN ARCH Consortium is to examine the consequences of alcohol on HIV disease and to mitigate its harmful effects. To realize this goal, the URBAN ARCH Consortium will incorporate the expertise of researchers in epidemiology, internal medicine, addiction medicine, HIV/AIDS, psychiatry and biostatistics, under the leadership of a Consortium PI who is a leader in the field of HIV and clinical addiction medicine. The Consortium studies will build on three existing HIV- infected cohorts from Boston, Uganda, and Russia with distinctive strengths and well-characterized alcohol consumption patterns. The two international cohorts allow study of clinical issues that would not be possible in the United States, yet have important implications for US HIV-infected populations. The objective of the Admin Core is to ensure that the scientific and programmatic goals of the URBAN ARCH Consortium are achieved with high quality and timeliness. Accordingly, the Admin Core will accomplish the following Specific Aims: Promote a collaborative, integrated approach to research goals; Facilitate constructive communication and creative collaboration between all Consortium components; Coordinate and prioritize access to resources including the URBAN ARCH data and sample repository; Assess components' progress and quality to maximize the scientific impact of the Consortium; Encourage the sharing of data to investigators within and outside the Consortium. The accomplishment of the Admin Core's aims will maximize the overall productivity of the URBAN ARCH Consortium and realize the potential of the outstanding multi-institutional, inter-disciplinary, and international collaborations. In working with all of the Consortium components, the Admin Core will ensure adherence to preplanned aims and support new evolving lines of scientific inquiry consistent with the Consortium's goal.
The URBAN ARCH Consortium will conduct and disseminate interdisciplinary alcohol/HIV research aimed at understanding the consequences of alcohol on HIV disease and advancing clinical approaches to mitigate its harm in the United States and globally. By utilizing distinctive cohorts in the United States and abroad, the Consortium will be uniquely positioned to provide insights about the relationship of alcohol and HIV infection so as to improve clinical and public health outcomes for the associated consequences.
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