AWARE Pilot Program

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

AWARE CENTER: PILOT PROGRAM ABSTRACT The overall goal of the AWARE Center Pilot Program is to catalyze NIH/NIAAA alcohol-HIV/AIDS research, particularly focused on specific minoritized groups (SMGs) and those experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, by attracting investigators who are early-stage or new to this area; fostering interdisciplinary collaborations; and providing mentorship, training, and guidance in this research. To accomplish these goals, the Pilot Program will leverage the established infrastructure of the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS), which for over two decades has supported the education, training, and career development of early-stage investigators, many of whom have transitioned to independent NIH or VA funding, and has resulted in exceptional productivity (>500 peer-reviewed publications). The Pilot Program will build on the resources of the VACS, particularly its Cores and Workgroups, to: 1) establish an efficient and responsive research pilot grant funding mechanism to support federal grant submissions in alcohol-HIV/AIDS research, focusing on SMGs or those with socioeconomic disadvantage, 2) create formal mentoring/training programs to foster success in this research, and 3) catalyze alcohol-HIV/AIDS research among SMGs or those with disadvantage by promoting new collaborations and facilitating use of data from cohorts that collect information on alcohol from people with HIV (PWH). The Pilot Program will be led by Vincent Lo Re, MD, MSCE (Director) and Julie Womack, MSN, PhD (Co-Director) with key input from Janet Tate, ScD (Director of Programming and Data Analysis). The Pilot program will achieve its mission by: 1) Funding research pilot grants and microgrants to acquire preliminary data to build new collaborations, demonstrate research feasibility, and support hypotheses for alcohol-HIV/AIDS research focusing on SMGs or socioeconomic disadvantage; 2) Connecting early-stage and new-to-alcohol-HIV/AIDS investigators with mentors in existing VACS Cores and Workgroups to promote career-building collaborations and development of interdisciplinary research teams; 3) Engaging community representatives in the Engagement and Dissemination Core to maximize the impact of study aims and approaches; and 4) Assisting early-stage investigators in their transition to independence by providing critiques of Specific Aims pages, mock K and R award study sections, and research-in-progress feedback sessions. Our Pilot Program features important innovations, including: 1) priority on research examining the intersection of alcohol use, SMGs, and socioeconomic disadvantage on inflammaging biomarkers, associated outcomes, and potential treatments in PWH; 2) a collaborative network that provides access to well-established cohorts of PWH that collect data on alcohol, SMGs, and disadvantage; and 3) broad methodologic and clinical expertise within VACS Cores/Workgroups and cohorts to which investigators can interact and receive mentorship. Our Pilot Program will increase the pool of investigators who obtain NIH alcohol-HIV/AIDS grants focusing on SMGs or disadvantage and facilitate high-impact studies that address NIH alcohol-HIV/AIDS priorities.