SHINE Strong: Building the pipeline of HIV behavioral scientists with expertise in trans population health

项目摘要/摘要 旧金山公共卫生部(SFDPH)是艾滋病毒研究的先驱，是艾滋病毒行为研究和变性人社区干预措施的领导者，自疫情开始以来一直是艾滋病毒科学家的培训基地。跨性别者是受艾滋病毒影响最严重的关键人群，但他们在疫情应对中得不到足够的服务。干预试验没有充分包括跨性别者，当他们被包括在内时，往往是在其他人群中，没有足够的样本量来进行分析，以确定艾滋病毒预防和护理方面的突破的好处。艾滋病毒行为研究在提出问题和收集正确的数据以确定风险升高的原因和确定适当的干预方式方面往往没有达到目标。为了使疫情达到零新感染、零艾滋病死亡和零污名，在跨人群健康方面拥有专业知识的科学家必须在应对艾滋病毒方面发挥重要的科学作用，特别是那些来自美国生物医学、临床、行为和社会科学研究企业中代表性不足的人群的科学家。在跨人群健康方面拥有专业知识的艾滋病行为科学家很少，据我们所知，目前还没有已知的指导计划来培训艾滋病毒行为科学和跨人群健康方面的学者。我们的团队有数十年的艾滋病毒研究培训经验，我们也是跨性别者社区的艾滋病毒行为研究专家，已经进行了近20年的研究，目前在该领域与跨性别者社区进行了8项艾滋病毒行为研究。在我们的研究和指导经验的基础上，我们提出了“SING STRONG”-一个指导计划，致力于艾滋病毒行为科学家的长期发展，拥有跨人群健康方面的专业知识。我们的具体目标是：(1)为对跨人群健康感兴趣的美国生物医学、临床、行为和社会科学研究企业中来自代表性不足人群的本科生开发艾滋病毒行为研究培训计划，其中将包括密集的暑期研究、为期一年的指导项目以及终身职业倡导和社会支持；(2)与学者合作，制定职业规划、独立途径、支持系统以及与文化和医学相关的跨人群研究的能力；以及(3)创建和维持来自不同背景的导师网络，以支持跨人群健康研究的学者的职业生涯。为期5年的资助将招募4个队列，每个队列3名学者。该方案包括：(A)一个密集的暑期跨学科培训，制定职业规划，设计与艾滋病毒有关的研究，并与当地研究界建立联系；(B)完成一个为期一年的指导研究项目；(C)一个网上学习平台，有计划的、非同步的点对点交流；(D)为当地跨性别者和科学界和下一批学者进行最后一次研究论坛演讲。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) is a pioneer in HIV research, a leader of HIV behavioral research and interventions with the transgender (hereafter “trans”) community and has been a training ground for HIV scientists since the beginning of the epidemic. Trans people are a key population most severely affected by HIV, but they are under-served in the epidemic response. Intervention trials do not adequately include trans people, and when they are included it is often with other populations without the sample size to power analyses that can determine the benefit of breakthroughs in HIV prevention and care. HIV behavioral research often misses the mark in asking the questions and gathering the right data needed to determine reasons for elevated risk and identify appropriate modalities for intervention. To move the epidemic to zero new infections, zero AIDS deaths, and zero stigma, scientists with expertise in trans population health must play a significant scientific role in the response to HIV, especially those from underrepresented populations in the US biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences research enterprise. There is a paucity of HIV behavioral scientists with expertise in trans population health to do this work, and to our knowledge, there are no known mentoring programs to train scholars in HIV behavioral science and trans population health. Our team has decades of HIV research training experience and we are also experts in HIV behavioral research with trans communities, having run studies for almost 20 years and with 8 HIV behavioral studies with the trans community currently in the field. Building on our research and mentoring experiences, we propose “SHINE Strong” – a mentoring program committed to the long-term development of HIV behavioral scientists with expertise in trans population health. Our specific aims are to: (1) Develop an HIV behavioral research training program for undergraduates from underrepresented populations in the US biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences research enterprise interested in trans population health that will include intensive summer research, year-long mentored projects, and life-long career advocacy and social support; (2) Work collaboratively with scholars to develop career plans, pathways to independence, support systems, and capacities for culturally and medically relevant trans health research; and (3) Create and sustain a network of mentors from diverse backgrounds to support scholars’ careers in trans population health research. The 5-year grant will recruit 4 cohorts of 3 scholars each. The program entails: (a) an intensive summer of interdisciplinary training, development of a career plan, design of an HIV-related study, and networking with the local research community; (b) completion of a 1-year mentored research project; (c) an online learning platform with scheduled, asynchronous peer-to-peer exchanges; and (d) a final Research Forum presentation for the local trans and scientific communities and the next cohort of scholars.