McNulty SP0055600 Subproject PrEP persistence and implementation in high burden areas in the Midwest

The Third Coast Center for AIDS Research (TC CFAR) partners Northwestern University (NU), University of Chicago (UC), the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC), and the Center on Halsted (COH). The overarching objective is to catalyze innovative research aimed at synergizing prevention, treatment, and cure to end the epidemic in our neighborhoods, nationally, and globally, especially among young men who have sex with men (MSM). The Third Coast CFAR will “Make big plans; aim high in hope and work (Daniel Burnham)” to enhance the number, quality, and productivity of HIV researchers from every discipline working inclusively and collaboratively with public health authorities and the community. A Scientific Working Group called Chicago Uniting on Research to End HIV (CURE HIV) will spark new strategies and research collaborations aimed at decreasing new cases of HIV among groups now having annually increasing rates of diagnoses, as well as improving the continuum of care and cure research opportunities for those who become infected. The CURE HIV Working Group will help set the ongoing scientific agenda for our Cores. The Cores, in turn, will provide services and assays to enable the entire TC CFAR to make progress toward ending the epidemic (Clinical Sciences Core; Social, Behavioral, and Implementation Sciences Core; Viral Pathogenesis Core), as well as leadership, mentoring, communication and networking (Administrative and Developmental Cores). Third Coast CFAR members have proven track records as world leaders in several areas. They lead evidence-based, community-engaged translational research to improve the health of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community as well as increasing understanding of the development of sexual orientation and gender identity. They innovate new biomedical prevention, diagnostic, and treatment modalities for HIV. Our members advance network and implementation science as well as s