Penn Center for AIDS Research

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CFAR Overview ABSTRACT This competing renewal application for the Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) builds on an outstanding record of dynamic scientific leadership, organizational structure, resources and infrastructure that advance HIV/AIDS research across the integrated campus of the University of Pennsylvania, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia & the Wistar Institute. The CFAR's mission is to catalyze cutting-edge science and add value to the AIDS research enterprise through activities that could not be achieved by individual investigators or research projects. The Center is comprised of 250 members from our 3 institutions, including 11 of the 12 Penn schools and 17 departments within the School of Medicine, and key partners. The success of the CFAR in the last 5 years is reflected in >$200M in AIDS-related NIH funding over that time, key discoveries in AIDS research priority areas including HIV cure, vaccine development, immune reservoirs, bio-behavioral prevention & engagement in care, HIV coinfections/comorbidities & other areas, and 3 interdisciplinary Scientific Working Groups with high impact outcomes including funding of a Martin Delaney Collaboratory. Looking ahead, a comprehensive strategic planning process has led us to refine CFAR priorities, Core activities, and Core leadership to leverage new expertise and cultivate new research leaders, and maintain a cutting-edge focus for our SWGs. The Penn CFAR is now well-positioned to address critical challenges during the next 5 years. Our CFAR recently established two new SWGs (“Technology to Reduce HIV Disparities” & “HIV Reservoirs & Tissue Immunology”) that have already achieved high impact discoveries and will be carried forward to the next cycle. The CFAR supports a Developmental Core and 7 Shared Resource Cores (Clinical, Virus & Reservoirs, Immunology, Prevention Science & Community Outreach, Biostatistics & Data Science, Nonhuman Primate, and International) that provide essential support for the research mission. The CFAR is led by Drs. Ronald Collman (Director) and Robert Gross (Co-Director) and governed by an Executive Committee with input from an Internal Advisory Board, External Advisory Committee and Community Advisory Board. The Penn CFAR has 4 highly inter-linked Specific Aims that enable it to achieve its mission: (1) Provide scientific and administrative leadership and pilot funding to catalyze innovative, interdisciplinary research that will lead to new knowledge and solutions for the AIDS crisis; (2) Attract, train, mentor and support the next generation of HIV/AIDS researchers to ensure forward-looking scientific progress, draw non-AIDS investigators into the field with cross-cutting interdisciplinary expertise, and launch the next generation of research leaders; (3) Support, monitor and continually evolve a set of efficient, dynamic & innovative Shared Resource Cores that both support HIV/AIDS investigators and lead the research agenda through development & dissemination of innovative technology that transforms scientific capacity, and; (4) Advance science and synergy through intra- campus, local, national & international partnerships, community engagement and capacity building.