A new five-year $9.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will advance the Texas Center for AIDS Research from a developmental center to a full center, strengthening HIV research, investigator training, and community partnerships across Texas.

Established in 2021, the center is dedicated to advancing research aimed at ending the HIV epidemic and improving HIV health outcomes in Texas. It is a collaboration among UTHealth Houston, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, and Baylor College of Medicine, with Baylor serving as the lead site.

Roberto Arduino, MD, professor at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, serves as a co-director, alongside Deepak Kaushal, PhD, of Texas Biomedical Research Institute. Thomas P. Giordano, MD, MPH, of Baylor College of Medicine, serves as director.

“The Texas CFAR is the perfect incubator for new and early-stage investigators to advance HIV research and facilitate cross-pollination between well-established HIV investigators and those with expertise in other fields who are interested in engaging with HIV research,” Arduino said. “It provides the basic science, clinical, and statistical knowledge and state-of-the-art resources towards the end of the HIV epidemic, the cure of HIV, the associated metabolic complications, and to implement the scientific findings in the community.”

Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, RN, ACRN, PHNA-BC, dean of Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston, is the director of the center’s Development Core. She has served as principal investigator on more than $7 million in NIH grants for studies among youth experiencing homelessness that address HIV and substance use prevention.

“Over the next five years, the center is committed to supporting additional early-stage and new-to-HIV investigators by funding more innovative, nurse-led interventions to help end the HIV epidemic,” said Santa Maria, The Jane and Robert Cizik Distinguished Chair and the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair in Nursing Education Leadership at the nursing school.

UTHealth Houston leaders dedicated to advancing HIV research

Among the UTHealth Houston leaders at the Texas Center for AIDS Research is Hulin Wu, PhD, professor of biostatistics at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, who serves as a site leader and the associate director for the Clinical and Biostatistics Core. Wu leads biostatisticians and data scientists in providing study design, data analysis, and data interpretation support to AIDS investigators.

“This $9.3 million NIH grant will substantially strengthen the Texas AIDS investigators’ capacity to conduct rigorous, innovative, and collaborative HIV research and end the HIV epidemic in Texas,” said Wu, the Betty Wheless Trotter Professor and Dr. D.R. Seth Family Professor in Biostatistics at the School of Public Health. “Ultimately, this investment will accelerate discoveries that improve HIV prevention, treatment, and finally eliminate HIV epidemics completely in Texas and beyond.”

From McGovern Medical School, Professor Jordan Lake, MD, MS, leads the Clinical and Biostatistics Core, while Professor Joy Schmitz, PhD, and Associate Professor Angela Heads, PhD, lead the Substance Use and Mental Health Scientific Working Group. Associate Professor Andrew Pickering, PhD, is also involved, leading the Aging and HIV Scientific Working Group alongside Andrew DiNardo, MD, PhD, from Baylor College of Medicine.

Meanwhile, Higinio Fernández-Sánchez, PhD, RN, an assistant professor in the Department of Research at Cizik School of Nursing, has been appointed associate director of the Community Engagement Research Core and will focus on advancing community-engaged HIV research across Texas.

Pickering is also a faculty member at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, while Lake holds the Barbara E. Murray, MD, Distinguished Professorship in Internal Medicine Research at the medical school and Schmitz the Louis A. Faillace, MD, Chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Louis A. Faillace, MD, Distinguished Professorship.

To learn more, visit the Texas Center for AIDS Research website.

Source: https://www.uth.edu/news/story/texas-center-for-aids-research-awarded-93m-to-become-full-center