Core E: Women and AIDS Core (Clinical Research Core) Staff of the core will include Core Director Timothy P. Flanigan, M.D. He is Associate Professor of Medicine at Brown University School of Medicine and Director of the Women's Immunology Center and the Division of Clinical Immunology at the Mariam Hospital. Dr. Flanigan will provide oversight of the core laboratory, including supervision of the gynecological nurse, convene meetings of the active core users on a periodic basis, and serve on the Executive Committee of the CFAR. Joan Gormley, R.N., a nurse in the Miriam Women's Immunology Center at the Miriam Hospital, will serve as the gynecological nurse for the core, obtaining study specimens according to protocols developed by investigators there. Basic purposes of the core will be to support basic and clinical research focusing on HIV treatment, progression and complications in women. The core is centered around the CDC-funded HIV Epidemiology Research Study (HERS) cohort (Charles Carpenter, PI) and will offer 1) gynecological specimen collection for viral quantification, evaluation of immunologically-active cells and markers, and secretory antibody quantification; 2) coordination of the HERS cohort for translational research investigation; and 3) sample repository of HERS cohort specimens for research purposes. Key scientific studies to be supported by this core include studies currently based on the HERS study: Dr. Timothy Flanigan's research on genital mucosal immunity Dr. Susan Cu-Uvin's study of the effect of anti- retroviral therapy on viral load in the female genital tract, and Dr. Ken Mayers research on effect of genitourinary inflammation on viral load. The core will also support new research by Dr. Sherwood Gorbach into the nutritional impact of highly-active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) and an interventional trial involving anabolic training to promote lean muscle mass gain in patients receiving HAART. The core will also support outcomes analysis of the HERS cohort in conjunction with other clinical cohorts to be performed by Dr. Ira Wilson.
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