The Adolescent AIDS Program (AAP) at Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Bronx, NY is re-competing to be an Adolescent Medicine Trials Unit to implement clinical and behavioral studies in the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN). Since 1987, the mission of the AAP has been to provide comprehensive care and prevention services to adolescents living with and at-risk for HIV infection. The AAP believes that its experience and leadership in providing the highest quality clinical care and research, combined with innovative strategies for community outreach will offer important scientific and operational contributions to the research agenda posed in the RFA by the NIH.
The Specific Aims of the Adolescent AIDS Program's participation in the ATN are: 1. To contribute to the advancement of the scientific agenda of the ATN through participation in protocol teams, writing/reviewing protocols and research papers and dissemination of key findings. 2. To contribute to the effective operations of the ATN via participation in calls, meetings and committees. 3. To provide a comprehensive array of clinical and mental health services to youth to facilitate their clinical care and enrollment into trials while ensuring their rights and safety as research volunteers. 4. To advance HIV prevention and care by recruiting and retaining HIV positive and at-risk adolescents ages 13 through 24 years into all relevant ATN trials. 5.To contribute to the prevention of HIV via community mobilization and structural change via Connect to Protect (r) and other innovative outreach and prevention strategies. The goals of the RFA include the development and implementation of behavioral, community-based translational, prophylactic, therapeutic and vaccine trials with HIV-infected and at risk youth. The success of these intervention studies will facilitate better clinical and behavioral management for HIV infected youth as well as make a significant contribution to the prevention of further HIV infection among youth. The AAP is uniquely positioned to meet these goals both through its research and clinical experience as well as its population of HIV positive and at-risk youth who reside in the Bronx, New York. In 2004, the AAP cared for101 HIV+ youth (60% of whom are females and 98% of whom are ethnic/racial minorities). The heavy burden of HIV faced by Bronx residents and youth necessitates continued research to develop more effective approaches to prevention, case finding and care. As the borough with the highest rates of poverty, the health status of the 1.3 million Bronx residents continues to lag behind other residents of New York City. The Bronx has more people living with HIV/AIDS than 45 states. This research will help the AAP to address the public health issue of HIV/AIDS in the Bronx.
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