The planned AIDS Prevention Research Center (AIDS/PRC) thematically focuses on the development and testing of interventions to prevent HIV infection risks among Black and Hispanic Americans through the reduction of intravenous drug use and unsafe sexual activity. This theme is echoed by five research projects that include an epidemiology study, separate prevention studies with Black adolescents and with Hispanic adolescents and their families, a risk reduction study with intravenous drug users, and an intervention study with mothers who are enrolled in a methadone maintenance program. Each research project relies heavily on a core of five divisions, on an executive group. The five core divisions encompass intervention development, data management, social marketing, community interactions, and scientific dissemination. Besides an administrative unit, the executive group covers activities of the AIDS/PRC steering committee, advisory board, and principal investigators' committee. By commonly drawing on core division and executive group services, the five studies of the AID/PRC have unity and parsimony. Consequently, the research projects and core divisions of the proposed AIDS/PRC offer promise for the discovery and evaluation of interventions to prevent AIDS and HIV infection risks among Black and Hispanic Americans. This cost-effective and scientific approach to intervention research has additional benefits for finding new ways to prevent AIDS. A major benefit of the proposed AIDS/PRO is that it will bring together investigators from several disciplines to collectively study interventions for preventing AIDS Representing major academic institutions and cognate fields, this team of investigators will create a synergism of methods and interventions to reduce HIV infection risks among Black and Hispanic Americans.
