Overview of CIRA Services for Affiliated and Associated Scientists

1. Administrative (Admin) Core
2. Development (Dev) Core
3. Interdisciplinary Research Methods (IRM) Core
4. Community Research (CR) Core
5. Clinical and Health Services Research (CHSR) Core
6. Law, Policy and Ethics (LPE) Core

I. Administrative (Admin) Core - More Details

• Consultations on CIRA affiliation, budget preparation, personnel planning, grant preparation, and interpretation of Federal and University regulations.
• Grant preparation and management assistance including biosketches, other support pages, resource pages, and budget justifications for standard items. Grants managed through CIRA include form preparation, review of grant package, pagination, copying and submitting grant.
• Use of state-of-the-art equipment (videoconferencing, projectors, laptops, scanning, color printing, transcription machines, digital camera) and comfortable meeting space.
• Opportunities to collaborate in many disciplines and share research findings with other colleagues through workshops, seminars, meetings and conferences.
• Informative weekly email bulletin that details Center, University, and local events, and information on conferences, funding, and job opportunities.
• Internet (describing affiliated projects and scientists, Cores and Core activities) and intranet (accessible only to a limited group of people, used to share resources and information).
• Web design and development, ranging from full custom site development to a menu of already created templates to facilitate ease and keep costs low.

II. Development (Dev) Core - More Details

• Peer review process in which a multidisciplinary group of colleagues with a range of expertise provides constructive feedback on proposals and manuscripts to enhance their quality.
• Opportunities to work with fellows from the NIMH Post- and Pre-doctoral interdisciplinary HIV prevention training program, and international training programs.
• Opportunities for seed money to undertake HIV prevention research.
• Provides support in the development of diversity supplements for eligible CIRA affiliated grants.

III. Interdisciplinary Research Methods (IRM) Core - More Details

• Advice in the design/modification of data management systems.
• Support and consultations for statistical analyses.
• Help for circumstances where sampling has been problematic (missing data, clustering, unequal, etc.) through the application of Bayesian methods, Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE), and other algorithms.
• Data mapping, GIS, and spatial analysis using advanced spatial statistics.
• Development of monitoring and evaluation plans, sensitivity analysis, and other procedures to quantify qualitative outcomes.
• Training in statistical software and GIS, including an on-site training area where analysis maybe be performed in the context of an IRM Core consultation.
• Training and installation of LINUX-based open source statistical and GIS software.
• Training in qualitative data collection and analysis including the conduct of focus groups, individual interviews, and ethnographic observations.
• Advice in the design of infectious disease modeling and economic analysis of care and prevention programs.

IV. Community Research (CR) Core - More Details

• Provides consultations on: community based research (CBR) methods; dissemination; linkages with community research partners, community based organizations, and scientists; and other community-related issues.
• Offers guidance for successful community - university research partnerships.
• Assists with the dissemination of research project information and findings to the community.
• Supports the Community Research Partnership Program pilot project grants.
• Organizes trainings/workshops on community based research related issues as needed.

V. Clinical and Health Services Research (CHSR) Core - More Details

• Supports multi-disciplinary, collaborative research focusing on HIV and aging, comorbidities and toxicity, and mental health and substance abuse issues.
• Organizes working groups focused on major thematic areas of research interest. Promotes multi-disciplinary research on these issues by bringing together CIRA-affiliated scientists from varied clinical and health services research backgrounds.
• Reviews and develops survey instruments to assess risky behavior and substance abuse in HIV.
• Organizes mini-conferences around major thematic areas (HIV and aging, comorbidities and toxicity, and mental health and substance abuse). Promotes publication of white papers arising from mini-conferences.

VI. Law, Policy, and Ethics (LPE) Core - More Details

• Provides individual and Core consultations, including Peer Review participation, focusing on a range of topics including, but not limited to, legal issues that may help or hinder research, assistance in directing research findings to policymakers, consideration of ethical dilemmas that may arise in conducting research and/or design of human subjects protection plans for IRB applications.
• Undertakes research and preparation of Policy Updates that relate to public policy, legal questions, and/or ethics and human subjects topics that impact HIV prevention research. Suggested topics for Policy Updates are welcome from all CIRA affiliated scientists.
• Organizes Mini-Conferences to bring researchers, community members and other relevant stakeholders together in order to debate and explore law, policy and ethics issues. Affiliated scientists do not need to be members of the Core to initiate these events. Administrative coordination, background research, and financial support are provided by the Core.
• Assists in the development of research on structural interventions: provides consultations on methods in measurement and analysis of structure and runs working group to review published papers and developing grants and manuscripts on topics in structural determinants and structural interventions.