• • To provide strong institutional leadership in HIV/AIDS research at the four partner institutions.
  • To support multidisciplinary HIV research to build impactful team science among the four CFAR institutions and beyond.
  • To nurture and support the career development of early-stage investigators to grow the number and diversity of the next generation of HIV researchers.
  • To expand HIV research opportunities for Meharry investigators through increased collaborations across partner institutions and resources throughout the CFAR.
  • To continue to grow a broad emphasis on HIV-focused community-engaged research that permeates the CFAR, strengthened by implementation science.

The Tennessee CFAR supports multidisciplinary HIV research that leverages the highly collaborative local environment to build impactful team science. The CFAR offers a wide variety of services that range from basic science to epidemiology and beyond, supports research training and mentoring for early-stage investigators, and brings together investigators, health leaders, and community members in ways designed to foster multidisciplinary collaboration. The Administrative Core provides leadership, management, coordination, and supervision of CFAR activities across the four partner institutions to enhance the HIV research productivity of CFAR investigators. The Developmental Core administers a robust pilot awards program, ensures mentoring of investigators new to HIV research with a focus on early-stage, minority, women, and public health investigators, and fosters academic skills development and scientific team building. The Clinical Sciences Core propels the use of observational databases for high-impact HIV clinical and translational research, supports research projects that require access to study volunteers and associated biological specimens, and supports research opportunities for Meharry investigators, including team science. The Laboratory Science Core develops new assays and provides services and consultation specifically designed to meet the needs of HIV researchers, including advanced immunology techniques, next-generation sequencing and single-cell RNA analyses, and HIV-related assays such as HIV genome sequencing and integration site assays, among others. The Data Sciences Core provides biostatistics, bioinformatics, and research informatics support, develops databases, tools, and methods to advance HIV research in the CFAR and beyond, and provides data science training to CFAR investigators. The Implementation Science Working Group connects implementation science experts with investigators working in diverse areas across the CFAR and community members to promote rigorous study designs, comprehensive data collection, and proven dissemination strategies to improve care delivery and bridge the evidence-to-practice gap.