URBAN ARCH Newsletter
URBAN ARCH Newsletter
Volume 3, Issue 3
July 2016 – September 2016
Check out the current issue of URBAN ARCH News, the quarterly newsletter bringing you news based on the latest URBAN ARCH and related research.
URBAN ARCH 2.0 – The Cores and Cohorts are Renewed for 5 More Years!
l-r: URBAN ARCH PIs at the 2016 Annual Meeting (Judy Hahn, Rich Saitz, Debbie Cheng, Jeffrey Samet, and Matt Freiberg)
This time five years ago, URBAN ARCH was just forming as an NIAAA HIV-alcohol consortium. After many meetings, analyses, awards, papers, and presentations, we now look ahead to an additional five years of URBAN ARCH research. The URBAN ARCH Consortium was awarded $12.3 million in renewal funding from NIAAA to investigate HIV-associated comorbidities, co-infections, and complications in the context of alcohol use. Building on the existing relationships and infrastructure, the study teams and cores are in an excellent position to begin research activities and launch the studies. Uganda ARCH (PI: Hahn) will generate data on the safety and tolerability of TB preventive therapy for HIV-infected drinkers as well as HIV-infected drinkers’ level of adherence to 3- and 6-month TB regimens. Russia ARCH (PIs: Samet, Freiberg, Tindle) will initiate an RCT among HIV-infected persons with heavy alcohol consumption who also smoke to compare the effects of varenicline, cytistine, and nicotine replacement therapy to reduce alcohol use, smoking, and risk for cardiovascular disease. Finally, Boston ARCH (PI: Saitz) will test the associations between alcohol (and illicit drugs and polypharmacy), falls, and fractures and whether frailty mediates these associations in people living with HIV infection, and develop and pilot test the feasibility of a falls prevention intervention.
You can learn more about each renewal study here.
- Job Postings: Boston ARCH is hiring a Project Manager and Research Assistants to join their team!
- New Grant: Congratulations to Kaku So-Armah on receiving a K01 grant examining novel mechanisms that drive excess atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk within the context of HIV and the role of liver injury.
- New Grant: Congratulations to Drs. Matthew Freiberg and Jeffrey Samet on receiving an NIAAA Gender Diversity Supplement to conduct sex/gender comparative analyses using existing data from our Russia ARCH/ZINC cohort.
- Abstract accepted for poster presentation at the HIV and Liver Disease 2016 Conference: Relationship of liver fibrosis score and LDL-cholesterol levels in HIV mono-infected and HIV/Hepatitis C co-infected patients (So-Armah et al.). Kaku So-Armah also received a travel award to present at this conference.
- Dr. Jeffrey Samet will deliver a plenary “Co-occurring substance use and infectious disease” at AHSR 2016.
- Congratulations to Dr. Karsten Lunze on receiving an Early Career Investigator Award to support his attendance at AHSR 2016.
In this issue, we interview Matthew Freiberg, MD, MSc, Co-Investigator of the Russia ARCH Cohort and Co-Principal Investigator of the ZINC and St. PETER HIV studies, and Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Vanderbilt University.
Click on the buttons to see what the URBAN ARCH Cohorts and Cores have been working on.
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Save the Date for the 2017 URBAN ARCH Annual Meeting
The sixth URBAN ARCH Annual Meeting will be held on March 28-29, 2017. Click here for more information about this meeting. We hope to see you there!
- Patts GJ, Cheng DM, Emenyonu N, Bridden C, Gnatienko N, Lloyd-Travaglini CA, Ngabirano C, Yaroslavtseva T, Muyindike WR, Weiser SD, Krupitsky EM, Hahn JA, Samet JH. Alcohol use and food insecurity among people living with HIV in Mbarara, Uganda and St. Petersburg, Russia. AIDS Behav. [In Press].
- Tsui JI, Ko S, Krupitsky E, Lioznov D, Chaisson CE, Gnatienko N, Samet JH. Cascade of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) care among HIV-infected people who inject drugs in St. Petersburg: the Russian HCV chasm. Hepatol Med Policy. [In Press].
- Williams EC, Hahn JA, Saitz R, Bryant K, Lira MC, Samet JH. Alcohol use and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection: Current knowledge, implications, and future directions. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. NIHMS: 807361.
Selected NIH Notices and Funding Opportunities
- Model Continuums of Care Initiative (MCCI) for Women and Girls at Risk and Living With HIV/AIDS and Harmful Alcohol and Associated Comorbidities Planning Cooperative Agreement (U34) (RFA-AA-17-013)
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Application Due Date: December 2, 2016 - Collaborative Research in HIV/AIDS, Alcohol, and Related Comorbidities (U01) (RFA-AA-17-014)
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Application Due Date: December 2, 2016 - Expanding Alcohol-Focused High-Priority Translational Research for HIV/AIDS (UH2/UH3) (RFA-AA-17-015)
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Application Due Date: December 2, 2016 - New Policy Eliminates Most Appendix Material for NIH/AHRQ/NIOSH Applications Submitted for Due Dates On or After January 25, 2017 (NOT-OD-16-129)
Click here for more funding announcements related to HIV and alcohol research.
Please email Carly Bridden if you will be attending any these meetings, so we can connect you with our investigators.
- Addiction Health Services Research Conference: October 13-15, 2016; Seattle, WA.
- HIV Research for Prevention: October 17-20, 2016; Chicago, IL.
- American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting and Exposition: October 29-November 2, 2016; Denver, CO.
- Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse (AMERSA) Annual National Conference: November 3-6, 2016; Washington D.C.
- Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation: December 14-15, 2016; Washington, DC.
Click here for more events and conferences.
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