Access to research study participants, their associated biospecimens, and large clinical cohort datasets is essential for high-quality clinical and translational HIV research. The CSC has been integral to Tennessee CFAR’s success during the current funding cycle. The CSC serves all investigators, provides efficiencies for nonclinical investigators (e.g., by providing a wide menu of services), and supports investigators who have not previously focused on HIV infection, as well as early career investigators.

Building upon the foundational partnership between Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Meharry Medical College, in 2015, this CFAR pioneered a new partnership with the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH). Facilitated by the CSC Epi-Outcomes group, state-level analyses with TDH have flourished, with 14 joint publications to date, including 7 during the current funding cycle. 1-14 In 2020, Nashville CARES, a sophisticated HIV community-based organization with an extensive research portfolio, 15-17 joined as a partner institution. During the current cycle, the CSC collaborated with CARES to expand awareness of research study opportunities, develop joint projects, and recruit participants at CARES-affiliated sites. During the next funding cycle, the CSC will expand opportunities with CARES by leveraging CARES’ Healthy University and the recruitment of Kassem Bourgi, MD (a mentee of CFAR PI, John Koethe) to become Medical Director of CARES starting September 2024.

The CSC provides critical services for many established investigators and is essential for the career development of early stage investigators (ESI). Since 2020, 16 ESI benefitted from CSC services (12 at Vanderbilt, 3 at Meharry, and 1 at CARES), which were central to the successful funding of multiple Developmental Core (DC), Administrative Supplement, and NIH K-series and R01 grant applications. During the current cycle, the CSC also provided services and consultation in support of 12 Meharry investigators and fostered new collaborations.

In 2021, in a major new development, current CSC Director April Pettit, MD, MPH, together with Timothy Sterling, MD, led this CFAR’s successful effort to join CNICS (CFAR Network of Integrated Clinical Systems, subaward of R24 AI067039 to UAB) as one of only two new sites in this now 10-site network. The CSC started PBMC collection, processing and storage specifically for CNICS, focused on new ART initiators. The CSC is also now collecting patient-reported outcomes (PRO) data at the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Center (VCCC). Nationwide, Dr. Pettit co-leads the CNICS Mentoring Core and has started a CNICS ESI working group.

During the current cycle, Dr. Pettit also led this CFAR’s efforts to establish and grow partnerships in Memphis, which ranks #2 in HIV incidence among US Metropolitan Statistical Areas, 18 with colleagues at the University of Memphis, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, community stakeholders, and others. This initiative has brought new faculty into the CFAR, including experts in HIV community-engaged research such as Latrice Pichon, PhD. Growing these partnerships will be an emphasis for the next funding cycle.

Building upon the expertise and collective infrastructure of the CFAR partner institutions, we propose the following three specific aims:

• Consult on study design, analysis, and protocol development
• Validated retrospective datasets tailored to investigators’ needs
• REDCap database design for prospective studies
• Data management
• Regulatory and IRB support
• Identification of individuals who are eligible for research according to study-specific criteria
• Recruitment and informed consent
• Study visits with Research Nurses, including specimen collection
• Microbiome specimen collection
• Qualitative interviewing
• Clinical skills such as Freid’s frailty examination, cognitive assessment, venipuncture, oral glucose tolerance testing
• Isolation of peripheral blood mononucleated cells (PBMCs)
• Access to specimen repository
• Monthly study recruitment dashboards for principal investigators (PIs)

For service request or inquiries, please contact tn-cfar@vumc.org