Administrative Core A

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CORE A: Abstract/Summary Core A provides leadership, management, organizational structure, fiscal oversight, and scientific direction to the Penn Mental Health AIDS Research Center (PMHARC), enabling it to fulfill its core mission to transform how people with both mental illness and HIV are treated and managed, an explicit focus not currently pursued by any other NIMH AIDS Research Center (ARC). PMHARC is unique in: 1) its scientific focus on mental health issues in HIV through an integration of basic, biological and social and behavioral sciences; 2) its unique behavioral and specimen repository and status as the only Behavioral ARC with a Laboratory and Biobehavioral Markers Core; 3) its development of a successful co-funding model with CFAR for PMHARC pilots; and 4) its status as the only NIMH Behavioral ARC collaborating with the NIMH Neuro ARCs in the NIMH Joint Seminar Series. The Center and Core A is led by a Director and two Co-Directors with exceptional and complementary strengths and experience in administration, research, and training and in the study of comorbid mental illness/HIV. PMHARC is located in an optimal intellectual and resource environment, which encompasses robust and well-regarded mental health and HIV research communities on the Penn/CHOP/Wistar contiguous campuses. Through Core A, PMHARC will continue to optimize psychiatric, behavioral, and medical outcomes for those with comorbid mental illness/HIV and elucidate the biological, psychological, and behavioral mechanisms underlying these combined illnesses and treatments. Core A has created an interactive environment that fosters communication, collaboration, and synergy among Center components and participants, as well as with the relevant schools, departments, centers, and institutes at Penn/CHOP/Wistar including CFAR, CTSA, Delaney Collaboratories at Wistar and Temple, and other ARCs. Core A will be engaged and responsible for: 1) coordinating interdisciplinary and collaborative mental health/HIV research; 2) encouraging, supporting, and mentoring new, established, and transitional investigators to focus on comorbid mental illness/HIV, and related comorbidities; 3) developing vibrant and responsive Strategic Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Processes and comprehensive Policies and Procedures; 4) managing fiscal matters; 5) conducting educational and community outreach programs; 6) fostering national linkages among other ARCs; and 7) supporting an active Community Advisory Board (CAB). Core A also includes 3 Consultants, Executive Committee (EC), Internal Advisory Board (IAB), External Advisory Committee (EAC), Research Innovation and Diversity Committee (RIDC), and CAB. This structure is explicitly intended to allow for continuous monitoring and evaluation in order to optimize efficiencies and responsiveness. In its first two cycles, PMHARC has made impressive progress in: advancing Diversity/ Inclusion; engaging investigators in combined HIV/mental health research and promoting research infrastructure; identifying, mentoring, and promoting career advancement of Early Stage Investigators (ESIs); and producing an impressive return on investment of the pilot award program.