Texas Developmental Center for AIDS Research

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PROJECT SUMMARY – TEXAS DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER FOR AIDS RESEARCH In 2019, the US announced a plan to End the HIV Epidemic by 2030. To be successful, strategies that improve HIV prevention and HIV treatment outcomes are needed. Only 56% of people with HIV (PWH) were virally suppressed in 2018, a critical determinant of health outcomes and transmission risk, and 51% of HIV diagnoses in 2018 were in the US South, despite constituting only 38% of the population in the US. Texas is the second most populous state in the US, behind California, with about 29 million residents, and is in the US South as defined by CDC and the Census Bureau. Unfortunately, this large Texas population, coupled with weaker public health and prevention policies and funding across the US South, has a growing HIV population that lags in critical health outcomes. There is an urgent need for more research and research infrastructure to combat the HIV epidemic in the US South and specifically in Texas to both contribute to ending the US HIV epidemic and to learn how to best do that in resource constrained areas of the US. We therefore will establish a Texas Developmental Center for AIDS Research (D-CFAR) to support the overall mission of the national CFAR program by facilitating high-priority HIV research and supporting the effort to end the HIV epidemic in the US. Three institutions have collaborated to propose this D-CFAR: Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio. Based upon the outstanding expertise of its investigators, the Texas D-CFAR will focus its activities in the five-year funding period on the research theme “Ending HIV and Optimizing HIV Health in Texas.” To accomplish its goals, the Texas D-CFAR will: 1) Provide organizational and financial management and facilitate activities and programs that strengthen and enrich the D-CFAR research and intellectual environment; 2) Support targeted high-priority interdisciplinary pilot research projects, assist in responding to new HIV-related research initiatives, and facilitate research on ending HIV and improving health of PWH in Texas; and 3) Provide state-of-the-art expertise, advice, and services to facilitate the range of HIV-related research for D-CFAR investigators. The Texas D-CFAR will support an Administrative Core, a Developmental Core, a Basic Science Core and a Clinical and Biostatistics Core to meet investigator needs and catalyze innovative research. The scientific Cores will build on outstanding strengths in virology, non-human primate resources, clinical trials research and biostatistics. The D-CFAR will engage a Community Advisory Board and Internal and External Advisory Boards for guidance. Coupled with outstanding institutional support, the D- CFAR will stimulate new research and collaborations among basic, translational, clinical, health services and public health researchers. The D-CFAR will significantly advance knowledge needed to end HIV and improve the health of PWH in Texas and similar areas, train the next generation of scientists, and grow into a full CFAR, thereby contributing to ending the HIV epidemic in Texas, the US South, and beyond.