SWG 1: Highly Impacted Populations Scientific Working Group

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HIGHLY IMPACTED POPULATIONS SCIENTIFIC WORKING GROUP (SWG1) Project Summary The Specific Aims of the Highly Impacted Populations (HIP) Scientific Working Group (SWG) are to: 1) generate innovative HIV/AIDS research to promote prevention, care and treatment among highly impacted populations in the Washington, DC area, including MSM, gender and sexual minorities, criminal justice affected communities and vulnerable women; 2) collect data and conduct analyses that highlight the multi-level factors (e.g., social structural, community, behavioral, biomedical) affecting risk, care and treatment outcomes in each of these highly impacted populations and identify and explore the implications of overlap among them and critical cross-cutting theories, concepts and approaches (e.g., stigma, legality and policing, displacement and disruption) that affect some or all of them; and 3) create new opportunities for early stage investigators, engage established investigators who are new to HIV/AIDS research and continue to build on the work of currently R01-funded investigators in generating research among these highly impacted populations. Emphasis on these highly impacted populations is consistent with the DC CFAR's aim to address the DC epidemic, which is concentrated among MSM and sexual minorities (particularly of color) and where women of color are much more likely than their white counterparts to be HIV-infected. It is also consistent with the DC CFAR commitment to better understanding disparities in HIV/AIDS and, especially with its emphasis on criminal justice affected populations, the social structural dimensions of these disparities. The aims of the HIP SWG will be accomplished through a combination of activities including: monthly meetings of SWG subgroups addressing distinct issues related to these highly impacted populations; quarterly meetings of the full SWG to discuss and generate new research related to overlapping issues and themes across these populations; proactive review of program announcements and requests for proposals and convening of groups of potential collaborators to respond, as relevant; co- sponsorship with CFAR Cores of seminars, talks and workshops on SWG-related themes; and collaboration with the Developmental Core in soliciting pilot projects on SWG-related topics.