Harvard University Center for AIDS Research- Clinical Core

Core Director: Rajesh Gandhi, MD
rgandhi@partners.org
Associate Director: Paul Sax , MD
psax@partners.org
Community Programs Manager: Wanda Allen
wanda_allen@hms.harvard.edu

For over two decades, Harvard institutions have made major collaborative contributions to clinical AIDS research, ranging from seminal studies of HIV pathogenesis to the design and conduct of critical antiretroviral clinical trials. The Harvard University CFAR Clinical Core provides a bridge for translational research among clinical and laboratory investigators at participating institutions. Important aims of the HU CFAR Clinical Core are:

To provide optimal access to clinical and translational research for HIV-infected individuals. Integrated efforts will involve outreach and education for underserved populations in order to improve recruitment to, participation in, and retention in clinical investigative studies. These efforts will take place both locally and internationally.

To improve coordination among clinical research databases among participating institutions, and to utilize these databases to facilitate integrated research projects in major areas of CFAR interest, including outcomes research, pathogenesis studies, and therapy and vaccine trials.

To develop a coordinated specimen repository system among participating institutions and a readily accessible mechanism to obtain specimens for important investigative studies.

To provide facilitative support for major clinical research programs across CFAR institutions including those in metabolic complications of HIV infection, primary HIV infection, behavioral approaches to therapy, and HIV/hepatitis virus co-infections.

A major focus of the Division and CFAR's community programming supports clinical research initiatives at our participating institutions. HIV-infected patients at our institutions have access to and are participants in numerous research network studies (e.g., ACTG, PACTG, HVTN, AEIDRP), pharmaceutical clinical trials, and other studies of HIV pathogenesis. Recruitment and retention in these and other studies have benefited from extensive community outreach and education programs.

The clinical research education and outreach activities of the HU CFAR involve a number of efforts, many of which are co-funded by philanthropic and institutional support. Education of patients and providers on a variety of HIV/AIDS-related topics is implemented by a variety of techniques including small group, case presentations and formal didactic presentations. A primary goal of the Community Programs at the Division of AIDS is to ensure that new and recent research findings related to HIV prevention and care are shared with patients and other clinicians as soon as possible. Harvard Medical School faculty and staff make themselves available in a variety of settings to ensure that scientific contributions and findings from investigators are translated for general public use and accessible to those who can benefit most.

To help guide and implement our extensive community education and outreach program, we have convened the CFAR Network Committee (CNC). The CNC of the Clinical Core meets bimonthly and is comprised of staff from the HMS-affiliated institutions and NIH-sponsored research networks engaged in AIDS clinical research outreach, education, and/or recruitment activities. Given the significant clinical research activities within the nine HU CFAR institutions and six research networks (ACTG, PACTG, CPCRA, HVTU, HPTU, AEIDRP), the CNC is charged with creating a dialogue among the clinical investigators to connect clinicians and their patients to research studies and initiatives at CFAR member institutions and provides up-to-date research findings to clinicians and their patients. The networks work with the same at-risk communities and potential study populations in the Boston area.

The CNC does not function as (or compete with) Community Advisory Boards established by the institutions or research networks but rather, works as an umbrella organization to support clinicians research activities and enhance and support local CAB activities and goals. The CFAR program will work with network staff to coordinate efforts and create economies of scale in AIDS research community education and study volunteer recruitment and retention.

The CNC will work to achieve these primary objectives:

Foster scientific communication
Sponsor training and education
Promote knowledge of CFAR research findings and the importance of AIDS research through community outreach
Support HIV/AIDS research networks
Support research on prevention and treatment of HIV infection in hard-to-reach populations, especially in inner city and disadvantaged minorities

The CNC is comprised of members from each of the research networks associated with HMS. The CNC has set the following two objectives for this year:

Create meaningful and substantive collaborations in outreach, education, and study recruitment among the NIH-funded clinical research networks at HMS (ACTG, PACTG, CPCRA, HVTN, HPTN, AEIDRP) by identifying and cataloguing AIDS research activities within each institution and network and, through this process,
Work with HIV/AIDS clinical investigators and providers, to identify gaps in research activities of importance to the CFAR clinicians and their patients.

The activities of the CNC are facilitated and coordinated by Wanda Allen. For more information on our community programs, please contact Sarah at wanda_allen@hms.harvard.edu .

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