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NIH / NIAID Awards Funds UCLA-CDU CFAR
CDU has been awarded funding in the amount of $ 2.2 million over 5 years to support the UCLA-CDU Center for AIDS Research ( CFAR ) Community Engagement and Clinical Informatics Core ( CECIC ). CECIC aims to accelerate positive outcomes for vulnerable populations within Los Angeles County and diasporic communities across Africa and Latin America .
CECIC will engage academic partners , community partners , LA County clinics , and global partners in a multidirectional and collaborative effort to imagine and implement new ways to decrease the incidence of HIV , improve treatment outcomes of people living with HIV / AIDS , and ensure ART-free remission in communities of color disproportionately impacted by HIV . An alternative to a classic cure , ART-free remissions do not involve eradicating the HIV reservoir , but rather allowing a person living with HIV to keep latent virus suppressed without daily medication .
“ The mission of the UCLA-CDU CFAR is to STOP HIV in Los Angeles County and beyond ,” said Dr . LaShonda Spencer , one of the multiple Principal Investigators ( MPI ) and Director for CDU ’ s Drew CARES . “ CDU will leverage its expertise in community participatory research and community involvement along with its expertise in HIV care / prevention and research in biobehavioral factors related to HIV .”
The heart of the CECIC is CDU ’ s Community Faculty , a unique program in which community leaders who have impacted the health outcomes of their communities receive a faculty appointment at CDU . They act as intermediaries between academic researchers and community members .
CECIC will be housed here at CDU . It will provide technical assistance , support , and training in research development , implementation and community engagement to both academics and community providers who are interested in HIV research , and to develop the infrastructure for conducting clinical-informatics-supported research that informs evidence-based practice to address HIV disparities by providing clinical data extraction and retrieval , as well as data management training and support to community HIV providers .
“ The Community Advisory Board will also be housed here ,” said Dr . Spencer . “ An important goal is to increase the number of under-represented minority researchers in Los Angeles in order to impact the high rates of HIV that affect communities of color .”