August 2017
Dear UCSF ARI Community,
Welcome back from what I hope was a wonderful summer. As we enter the fall, I’d like to reflect upon ARI’s eventful last few months and highlight some of our upcoming work.
Most notably, UCSF and our affiliates made another strong showing at the 2017 International AIDS Conference, held in Paris this past July. A full write-up of some of the week’s most compelling work presented by ARI investigators can be found here, and I encourage you to view some of the videos that detail some notable research and clinical findings.
July also brought the annual SF AIDS Walk, at which UCSF teams have consistently had considerable fundraising achievements. This year was no exception. An event rallying support a week prior to the event welcomed San Francisco Supervisor Jeff Sheehy back to UCSF for the first time since taking his role on the Board. This extra boost helped UCSF teams raise more than an astonishing $100,000 in funds – and many of these directly support clinical and community activities at Ward 86.
Excitingly, this past summer UCSF and the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology received the good news of our Center for AIDS Research renewal from the NIH, ensuring another five years of innovative basic science, clinical, implementation, and population health HIV research taking place at our Mission Bay campus led by my colleague Dr. Warner Greene and myself. Spearheaded by Dr. Edward Murphy, UCSF also received notice of funding for a Fogarty HIV international training grant titled “Research training in HIV-related transfusion medicine and hematology in South Africa,” also via the NIH.
In regards to training, the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies Traineeships in AIDS Prevention Studies (TAPS) Fellows are entering their 2nd or 3rd year of training. The Junior Faculty AIDS Researchers (JFAR) program will this year begin hosting quarterly communications sessions – open to any UCSF or affiliated HIV investigator – under the guidance of Larkin Callaghan, who joined our ARI team in May as our new Director of Strategic Communications and Partnerships. These workshops will cover topics ranging from utilizing digital and social media for the promotion of work, to media training, to translating research findings for policy and lay audiences. We’ll be publicizing details and dates shortly.
For those in search of funding, GloCal Health Fellowship applications are now open! Due November 1st for a July 2018 start date, these fellowships are yearlong, and 50% of the spots must be from fellows with an HIV focus. Our fall RAP funding cycle is also now officially open, with a deadline of September 18th. The ARI and CFAR will be offering HIV-focused grants for basic, clinical, behavioral, and epidemiological studies.
Finally, please mark your calendars and check back on our website for details about some of our exciting upcoming events:
- On Wednesday, October 4th, at the Parnassus campus Kalmanovitz Library, I will be speaking at the opening of a photography exhibit highlighting some of the role UCSF, in tandem with other global health organizations, has played in the history of women and children in the HIV epidemic.
- From October 24-26th, our CFAR will host the 11th Centers for AIDS Research Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Network (SBSRN) National Scientific Meeting. Registration is now open.
- Our amfAR Institute HIV Cure Summit showcasing our exciting cure research will be hosted here at our Mission Bay campus on Tuesday, November 28th.
You can follow our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (@ucsf_AIDS_research) pages for daily coverage of UCSF, affiliate, and worldwide HIV research, clinical, and policy updates. Have a great autumn, and I look forward to seeing you at some of these events and initiatives in the next couple of months.
Paul Volberding, MD
Director, AIDS Research Institute