EHE Supplements

We are pleased to share that the FY2023 CFAR Administrative Supplements to support the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) initiative is now published through a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI). Please review the NOSI and LOI guidance below for details.  

Important Internal SD CFAR Submission Processes and Deadlines 

Each CFAR is allowed to submit a maximum of three applications total (i.e., any combination of three out of the four priorities). Clinical trials are not permitted. Please submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) no longer than 2 pages to the SD CFAR Administrative Core (cfar@ucsd.edu) by 12:00 pm PT on Friday, February 3.  Submitted LOIs will undergo review by SD CFAR leadership and the final three (3) proposals will be selected for submission.

LOI Guidance (254.5 KB)

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): NOT-AI-23-016

The NIH invites eligible NIH CFARs and NIMH ARCs to submit administrative supplements in support of the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States initiative. Eligible Centers for AIDS Research (CFARs) and AIDS Research Centers (ARCs) must collaborate with implementing partners located in the 57 priority jurisdictions. Implementing partners can include community, local, county and state health departments, community-based organizations, and clinics receiving funds from the CDC, HRSA, SAMHSA, or IHS. These implementation research projects should be developed by a team of CFAR/ARC investigators, community partners, implementing partners, and people with lived experience to support the local ending the HIV epidemic plans.

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Research Topics

1. Syndemic Approaches to HIV Prevention, Treatment or Care - $150,000 per year (direct costs) for up to 2 years
2. Leveraging Pharmacies to Advance HIV Testing, Prevention, and Care - $150,000 per year (direct costs) for up to 2 years
3. Strategies to Improve Linkage to HIV Care and Services Post-Incarceration - $150,000 per year (direct costs) for up to 2 years
4. Cluster Detection and Response Strategies - $150,000 per year (direct costs) for up to 2 years

In summary, a total of up to three (3) Project applications will be submitted to NIAID through the SD CFAR Administrative Core.

 

 

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2023 Application Timeline

 

Friday, February 3 @ 12pm PT	LOIs due to cfar@ucsd.edu for EHE Project Topics a - d
Thursday, February 9	Notifications to applicants re: finalists
Wednesday, March 8**	Solid draft of applications due for internal reviews
Wednesday, March 15 - Friday, March 17**	Internal review panels/mock-study sections
Wednesday, March 22	Final applications due to the SD CFAR Admin Core
Friday, March 24	After review by the Admin Core, Admin Core submits final applications for UCSD institutional review (HSSPPO)
Friday, March 31	Applications due @ NIH
Saturday, July 1	Earliest anticipated project start date

 

**Internal review participation is optional, however strongly encouraged

 

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Letter of Intent Guidelines

 

Click here to download a pdf of Letter of Intent Guidelines

 

Preferred length: Two pages. Please be as succinct as possible. References may be placed on a separate page.

Preferred format: Use at least half-inch margins on all sides, and 11-point type or larger in the body of your letter. Headers and footers may have smaller type if it is legible. No tables or figures, please.

Basic information (not included in 2-page limit):

1. Supplement PI name, academic title, email address, and SD CFAR institution
2. List of other proposed Senior/Key Personnel
3. EHE Topic
4. Project Title
5. Primary Pillar and Other pillars
6. EHE geographic priority area(s) (name of the county, territory, or state)
7. Project/Performance Site location(s)
8. Implementing Partner (organization name and collaborator name)
9. Community Partner (organization name and collaborator name)
10. Study population
11. IS Framework

Preferred content:

State and define the following:

• Problem/research question: What do you wish to study and why? Provide background information and list previous research in this area if possible.
• Objectives: What will the proposed research accomplish?
• Specific Aims: State each Aim using active verbs, then define how you propose to achieve it. Please also state your hypothesis/hypotheses for each Aim. Indicate how the proposed activities outlined in the supplement announcement are expected to support your Specific Aims.
• Critical Principals*: Briefly describe how the EHE critical principals will guide your project's efforts.
• Implementation Science Framework: Provide a brief description of the implementation science framework or model you plan to utilize.
• Inter-CFAR Synergy: Include a statement of how you plan to utilize existing SD CFAR resources (including Cores and the EHE SWG) and/or develop unique expertise, technology, and resources at SD CFAR institutions.
• Human or animal subjects’ involvement: Describe any research to be done in enrolled participants. If using stored specimens, how were they obtained and where are they stored? Do you need or have IRB or IACUC approval? If your study does not involve human or animal subjects, skip to Next Steps.
• Next steps: How will you use the data resulting from this proposed research?

*Critical Principles:

• There must be value added (mutual benefit) for all members of the EHE project team, including representation of people with lived experience. This includes communication and collaboration with all partners in all phases of the project including planning/development, initiation, execution, and dissemination. The EHE project team is defined as the CFAR/ARC investigator(s), community partner(s), implementing collaborator(s), and people with lived experience.
• Communities and/or people with lived experience must be meaningfully engaged through shared partnership. Partnerships with community members depend on trust, shared values, goals, equitable decision-making, and a diversity of perspectives, knowledge, and lived experiences.
• EHE project teams are encouraged to examine any local policies that have created unintended structural barriers to HIV treatment and prevention and work with their community partners to identify potential opportunities to either work around those barriers, find and harness facilitators to address the barriers that are unchangeable, and have ongoing dialogues about opportunities to affect those structural barriers directly.
• Applications must propose creative, locally defined, and culturally relevant concepts that align with the local EHE plans. Proposed project aims are especially encouraged that innovate and build research-implementer strategies that differ substantially from conventional means of service delivery, particularly where more conventional standard practices and approaches are not effectively addressing the diversity of needs in their communities.
• Applications should consider innovative ways to enhance engagement efforts across community, health departments, and implementing partners and community-based and outreach approaches that remove or alleviate barriers to conventional prevention and treatment access.
• All projects should focus on either the 50 priority jurisdictions or the 7 states with a substantial rural HIV burden. CFARs may work in priority areas outside of their institution’s immediate location, particularly if relationships have already been established, and/or these relationships can be strengthened by collective work. Projects can include a county or state with significant new HIV diagnoses (>20 per 100,000 for counties or >10 per 100,000 for states) or one or more networks experiencing rapid transmission (i.e., clusters or outbreaks), as long as one EHE priority jurisdiction is also included.
• CFAR investigators are encouraged to collaborate with researchers from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) in planning projects and in the formation of future IS partnerships in communities served by HBCUs.
• All supplemental research community collaborative projects are also strongly encouraged to assess, monitor and improve overall Quality of Life as an essential component of any intervention designed to improve HIV prevention and treatment outcome.

Timeline:

Please refer to deadlines above and note there is a tight turnaround time to submit final applications. SD CFAR will be organizing optional, internal reviews for the final applicants. The earliest anticipated start date for projects is July 1, 2023.

Questions:

Email cfar@ucsd.edu 

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Background on NIH Administrative Supplements

NIH occasionally announces opportunities for administrative supplements. These are grants in specific aspects of HIV research that are offered to all CFAR sites for periods of one or more years. They are considered supplemental funding to the sites' CFAR grant.

When we are informed of a new administrative supplement, we announce the opportunity and application instructions by email to our members.

We hope you will apply for one of these supplements. Please remember to acknowledge the San Diego CFAR in any publication that results from one of our grant opportunities.