Core E: Prevention Science Core (PSC)Basic purposes of the core will be: 1) to develop and coordinate Prevention Science activities throughout theCFAR institutions, including Tufts and Brown Universities and the Fenway Community Health Center; 2) toexpand and coordinate CFAR Prevention Science activities in collaborating institutions in resource-restrictedcountries; 3) to guide behavioral science activities throughout the CFAR; and 4) to assist in the training oflocal CFAR investigators and international Fogarty trainees in diagnostic techniques appropriate to the earlydiagnosis of HIV infection in both domestic and resource-restricted environments.Staff of the core will include Core Director Kenneth H. Mayer, MD, Professor of Medicine and CommunityHealth at Brown Medical School. This core provides all Prevention and Education activities in this CFARincluding the Fogarty AIDS International Research Training Program, HVTN, HPTN, and other ClinicalImmunology Laboratory microbicide research. Dr. Mayer will provide advice on the prevention sciencerelatedanalysis performed in the Clinical Immunology Laboratory, which is directed by the RetrovirologyServices Core (Core H). The laboratory is available for CFAR prevention science investigators to do assayson specimens from high-risk populations to obtain estimates of HIV incidence (e.g., measurement ofantibody by the BED Capture assay, HIV RNA pooling, dried blot spot assays, and other serodiagnosticassays). Dr. Mayer will convene regular meetings of the Prevention Science Investigators to plan jointprojects and review data generated by CFAR Prevention Science investigators. Lola Wright, theadministrative coordinator of the PSC, will be responsible for meeting logistics and clerical/administrativesupport for Core investigators, as well as the focal person for information dissemination. Robert Ducharmeis the PSC Research Associate who will assist investigators in developing new protocols, conductingqualitative interviews in hard-to-reach populations, and in collecting quantitative data for CFAR pilot studies,and performing HIV rapid testing for hard-to-reach populations. The Prevention Science Core will alsocoordinate the research collaborations with Fenway Community Health, which serves as a major componentof the CFAR Prevention Science activities. Current HPTN and HVTN activities in the CFAR include bilateralcollaborations between the Miriam Hospital and Fenway Community Health, including joint initiatives incommunity education and training in GCP for the conduct of NIH-funded clinical trials. The PSC will beresponsible for the coordination of local prevention and behavioral research initiatives emanating from thenew Clinical Trials Unit initiatives (i.e. HPTN, HVTN, MTN).
Showing the most recent 10 out of 806 publications
