CFAR Developmental Core Awards

January 1, 2026

Melissa Cutshaw, MD, MPH - Heart Failure Among People With and Without HIV: Prescription of Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy (Microgrant)
Priyanka Jayal, PhD - Construction and characterization of prefusion closed HIV-1 Subtype C trimers to elucidate antibody resistance mechanisms (Microgrant)
Arpita Mrigwani, PhD - Structural and functional insights into antiviral lectins as therapeutic candidates for HIV-1 (Microgrant)
Mieke van der Mescht, PhD - A protease inhibitor-based fluorescent probe for real-time visualization of HIV latency reversal (Microgrant)
Erica Washington, PhD - Targeting sugar metabolism in Cryptococcus neoformans from patients with AIDS (Bridge Award)
Will Woodhouse, MD, MPH - Inpatient Hep C Treatment & Linkage to HIV Services at Duke Health (Bridge Award)

August 1, 2026

Haleigh Conley, PhD - Mitochondria as a vehicle for HIV entry into CD4-negative reservoirs (Microgrant)
Emily Cherenack, PhD - Secondary Analysis Examining Systemic Inflammation and Mental Distress among Tanzanian Young People living with HIV in the Sauti ya Vijana Study (Microgrant)
Morgan Byrd, MPH, PhD - MOSAIC: Mycobiome and Oral microbial Signatures Associated with Incident and persistent oral HPV in Children and adolescents by HIV history (Pilot Award)
Patricia Peterson, PhD - Transmission, persistence, and skin adaptation in the emerging sexually transmitted dermatophyte Trichophyton mentagrophytes type VII (Pilot Award)
Rajendra Upadhya, PhD - Harnessing Fungal Cell Wall Remodeling to Improve Whole Cell Vaccine Efficacy Against Cryptococcosis in People with HIV (Pilot Award)
Kara Wegermann, MD - Clinical and Multi-Omic Predictors of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) Progression in Persons with HIV (Pilot Award)

Faculty supported since 2020