Child/Adolescent/Young Adult HIV Research Training

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ABSTRACT Well-trained researchers are needed in the next decade to address the challenge of HIV/AIDS especially among children, adolescents, and young adults. Effective programs are needed for both the prevention of HIV, as well as intervention for those infected by HIV. This research training program will prepare Ph.D. and M.D. fellows to carry out independent research. The Bradley/Hasbro Children's Research Center has faculty with expertise in HIV prevention, other risk behaviors, normative development, psychopathology, and the psychology of physically ill youth. Additional faculty at Brown (through the Center for AIDS Research) have expertise in the medical care of HIV infected youth and adults, HIV testing, Treatment as Prevention, Pre- Exposure Prophylaxis, sexually transmitted infections, substance abuse, and international health. The strong faculty record of NIH funded research ensures that trainees are exposed to thriving areas of programmatic research. Trainees benefit from the accumulated and diverse expertise by the opportunity of two mentors, each with a different focus. Mentors focus on either 1) child/adolescent behavioral health, developmental or mental health issues or 2) medical aspects of HIV research. Training involves interdisciplinary and translational elements to prepare trainees for the integration of the medical, psychiatric, and developmental issues and as it informs Biobehavioral HIV/AIDS Research. The program will have a total of six postdoctoral trainees and one summer trainee each year. Two or three new psychology trainees are enrolled every year for a two-year fellowship (with an optional third year) and one new M.D. will be enrolled in alternate training years. Consistent with each trainee's individual needs, a graduated program for progressive independent research is designed. A formal training curriculum targets specific learning objectives aimed at skills needed for the next generation of HIV research. Core areas of learning include models of behavior and its change, assessment of behavior and emotional processes, influence of comorbidities on HIV, and the biology of HIV, its prevention and its treatment. Curriculum needs can be satisfied by HIV-specific seminars, general research design seminars, and by tutorials in addition to formal courses at Brown or nearby universities.