The Penn Mental Health AIDS Research Center (PMHARC) Developmental Awards: March 1 |
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February 3, 2015, Volume 61, No. 21 |
The PMHARC seeks applications for its pilot research program. The application deadline is March 1; the approximate start date is July 1, 2015.
This competitive program will select up to six projects with clear potential to lead to larger, funded research initiatives. All applications will be evaluated for scientific merit, programmatic relevance, utilization of PMHARC Core services and feasibility for completion within one year. The PMHARC will support a broad range of research topics related to the treatment of individuals with serious mental illness and HIV infection.
Priority will be given to applications that are responsive to the research priorities of the PMHARC; see http://www.med.upenn.edu/pmharc Applications must pair an established investigator with an early career investigator. Research strategies may include small feasibility trials and secondary analysis of large data sets. Potential areas of research include:
• Treatment of psychiatric disorders among people living with HIV infection who have co-occurring medical conditions—metabolic syndrome, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancers, HCV, TB, substance use disorders (alcohol and illicit drugs)
• Novel, as well as conventional, treatments and/or interventions of psychiatric conditions to improve access to, and retention in, HIV treatment and improved adherence to antiretroviral medications
• Adaptations of evidence based psychiatric treatment to the unique needs of HIV patient populations
• Research that links the effective treatment of mental illness among people with HIV infection to improvements in biological measures of health status
• Research focused on the treatment of HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders (HAND)
• Studies of interaction effects between psychiatric and antiretroviral medications
Funding amount: $25,000 plus significant support from PMHARC Cores. Funds may be used for personnel (including up to 10% of salary for senior investigator), supplies and/or equipment.
Core Utilization: Full use of appropriate PMHARC Core services is strongly encouraged and will be viewed as responsive to this announcement. Details can be found at: http://www.med.upenn.edu/pmharc/cores.shtml
PMHARC Core Assessments and Repository: All studies involving human subjects will be expected to utilize a core battery of clinical and lab assessments which, for most projects, will be completed by the Clinical Assessment Core and the Laboratory Biomarkers Core. All subjects will be offered participation in the PMHARC data and specimen repository.
Eligibility: All projects must be led by a member of the Penn Faculty, including Instructors. Post Docs and Senior Fellows at Penn are also eligible with a faculty sponsor.
Applications and Instructions: Forms and application details can be found at http://www.med.upenn.edu/pmharc
Page limit: Five pages not including the literature cited, budget, budget justifications and biosketch in NIH format.
Please include the cover page and budget page with each application and submit as a single PDF file attachment to Chelsea Voytek, at chelseav@mail.med.upenn.edu and David Gettes at dgettes@mail.med.upenn.edu
For further information, please contact Dave Metzger, director of Developmental Core at dsm@mail.med.upenn.edu
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