DC CFAR Welcomes Us Helping Us as New Institutional Partner |
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We are proud to announce that Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc. (Us Helping Us) will be joining the DC CFAR as an institutional partner in November 2022. Us Helping Us has been engaged in HIV research in DC for many years, including partnering on vanguard studies among Black sexual minority men (SMM) such as HPTN 061 and HPTN 073. And, under the leadership of Dr. Ron Simmons, Us Helping Us was a founding member of the DC CFAR Community Advisory Board (now the Community Partnership Council). Dr. DeMarc Hickson succeeded Dr. Simmons as Executive Director of Us Helping Us, currently serves as a co-lead for the DC CFAR Sexual and Gender Minorities Scientific Interest Group and will be joining the DC CFAR Executive Committee.
During the past year, Us Helping Us has received substantial NIH funding for HIV research totaling more than $1M, including two highly competitive awards: a NIDA-funded open-phase pilot study to increase PrEP initiation and adherence among Black SMM (R34DA054870) and a 5-year NIHM-sponsored R01 to identify the impact of racism, discrimination and stigma on PrEP outcomes among Black SMM in Washington, DC and Dallas, TX (R01MH130166).
Representation Matters! This is a landmark event in the history of the DC CFAR as we welcome Us Helping Us, a Black-led non-profit, community-based organization as an institutional member of the CFAR. The Black community bears a disproportionate burden of HIV and other HIV-related inequities in DC and in the U.S., and according to Dr. Hickson, research conducted by Us Helping Us “will be led by culturally congruent minority researchers and help address issues such as medical mistrust, misinformation/disinformation, and limited engagement in healthcare to end the HIV epidemic in the Black community by 2030.”
Please join us in welcoming Us Helping Us to the DC CFAR!
Alan Greenberg, Director, DC CFAR and DeMarc Hickson, Executive Director, Us Helping Us
History of Us Helping Us. Founded in 1985 and later incorporated in 1988, Us Helping Us is a Black SMM-led community-based, HIV-service organization known domestically and internationally for its work at the intersection of community education and mobilization, service delivery, advocacy and community-based research. With the mission to improve the health and well-being of Black SMM, Black transwomen, and other racial, sexual and gender minorities of color in the Washington, DC area, Us Helping Us provides a wealth of co-located medical, behavioral and support services, including PrEP/PEP, STD/HepC treatment, and trauma-informed therapies (website: www.ushelpingus.org). More recently, Us Helping Us began providing HIV primary care to support its robust status neutral approach to ending the HIV epidemic by 2030.
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Below you will find several resources of interest developed and gathered by DC CFAR partner institutions and community-based organizations. We encourage you to send information that may be of interest to our DC CFAR community to CFARinDC@gmail.com.
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Join the Howard University Shared Seminar on HIV Neuropathogenesis Featuring Dr. Kelly Jordan-Scuitto |
The DC CFAR and Department of Physiology & Biophysics at Howard University invites you to a shared virtual seminar by Dr. Kelly Jordan-Scuitto, Associate Dean of Graduate Education, Perelman School of Medicine and Professor of Pathology School of Dental Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Monday October 31st at 3:30pm. The seminar title is "Regulation of the Protein Kinase R-Like Endoplasmic Reticulum Kinase, PERK, by Copper: Implications for HIV Neuropathogenesis and other Neuroinflammatory Disorders." Please use the zoom information below to join.
Zoom link:
Meeting ID: 876 9351 9321
Passcode: 771664
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Recording Now Available: DC CFAR Developmental Core Benchside to Community |
On October 21, 2022 the DC CFAR Developmental Core hosted the Benchside to Community Virtual Seminar: Episode 2 "HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders: A Brain Imaging Guided Treatment". The seminar included a presentation by Dr. Xiong Jiang, Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Georgetown University, followed by a Q&A and discussion with Mr. Moisés Agosto-Rosario, Director of Treatment at NMAC and DC CFAR Community Co-Lead of the Aging and Comorbidities SIG, and Ms. Samia Abdallah, an undergraduate student and DC CFAR CDEIPI Scholar at George Washington University.
Click here for more information.
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RESCHEDULED: Basic Sciences Core Seminar Series featuring Dr. Xiong Jiang! |
The DC CFAR Basic Sciences Core will be rescheduling the Seminar Series featuring Dr. Xiong Jiang (GU) to a future date. More information is forthcoming. In the meantime, please find Dr. Jiang’s recent publication titled "Cingulate transcranial direct current stimulation in adults with HIV” here. |
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Whitman-Walker Receives an NIH Award to Develop a Community-Based Facility to Support HIV Research |
Whitman-Walker has received an award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) award to develop a " Community-Based Facility to Support Next Generation Biomedical HIV Research". This state-of-the-art HIV research space "will be a part of the new Max Robinson Center, Whitman-Walker’s future flagship building, which will be located on the St. Elizabeths East Campus redevelopment project in DC’s Ward 8." Once constructed, this research facility will be jointly overseen by Whitman-Walker and the George Washington University, with the longer term goal of making these HIV research facilities available for collaborative use by members of the DC CFAR. Senior Director of Research at Whitman-Walker Institute and DC CFAR Executive Committee Member Dr. Jonathon Rendina (PI) shared that “this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dramatically expand our capacity to conduct cutting-edge HIV research in a space that centers community and fosters cross-institutional collaboration”.
Click here for more information.
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Join the 13th Annual International Conference on Stigma on November 15 to 18th with conference pre-events on Monday, November 14. Please note that November 14 to 17 will be virtual days and Friday November 18th will be in person at Howard University. The theme this year is “Power of Peer Support: Breaking the Chains of Stigma Together.” Register here.
Do you have an event you would like to see included in the next edition of the Community Spotlight? We invite any news or updates from the DC CFAR community and encourage you to send information that may be of interest to CFARinDC@gmail.com. |
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DC CFAR partner institutions and community-based organizations have developed numerous excellent COVID-19 resources. We've included a collection of these here, along with a number of other opportunities for your reference. We will continue to update these resources in the days ahead and we encourage you to send information that may be of interest to our DC CFAR community to CFARinDC@gmail.com.
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October 27, 2022
November 7-9, 2022
November 8, 2022
November 8-11, 2022
November 14, 2022
November 15-18, 2022
November 14, 2022
November 14-18, 2022
December 13-16, 2022
February 19-22, 2023
Seattle, Washington
For more DC CFAR events please see the calendar here.
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FUNDING, TRAINING AND MENTORING OPPORTUNITIES
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The MMRTP is accepting applications until January 23, 2023, for selected scholars to have access to webinars, and resources, come to an in-person retreat to discuss their research project and are matched with mixed methods expert consultants.
The PHACS released a call for Early Career Investigators who are interested in maternal/child, adolescent, or young adult HIV research. For more information on eligibility requirements, key dates, and application format requirements, please click here.
The DC CFAR is recruiting for the Center Associate position, this person will be responsible for monitoring and evaluating project communications, research activities, and scientific services provided across eight partner institutions in Washington, DC. For more information see the job posting here.
This NIH opportunity invites applications from community organizations including non-traditional industry and non-profit organizations and aims for community organizations to lead research efforts in collaboration with research partners.
The HIV Vaccine Trials Network's Research and Mentorship Program (RAMP) application for the 2023-2024 cycle is now open. RAMP provides structured mentorship and project funding for African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American/American Indian, Native Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Islander medical students.
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NIH FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
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Funding Opportunity Number: RFA-DK-20-022
Posting Date: October 21, 2022
Closing Date: March 15, 2023
Funding Opportunity Number: RFA-DA-23-061
Posting Date: October 4, 2022
Closing Date: November 14, 2022
Funding Opportunity Number: RFA-DA-23-062
Posting Date: October 4, 2022
Closing Date: November 14, 2022
Funding Opportunity Number: RFA-CA-22-056
Posting Date: October 3, 2022
Closing Date: December 15, 2022
Funding Opportunity Number: RFA-CA-22-057
Posting Date: October 3, 2022
Closing Date: December 15, 2022
Funding Opportunity Number: RFA-CA-22-051
Posting Date: October 3, 2022
Closing Date: December 28, 2022
Click here for additional funding opportunities available from the National Institutes of Health.
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The DC CFAR is an NIH funded program (P30AI117970), which is supported by the following NIH Co-Funding and Participating Institutes and Centers: NIAID, NCI, NICHD, NIDCR, NHLBI, NIDA, NIMH, NIA, NIDDK, NINR, NIMHD, FIC, and OAR. The content isthe responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. |
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