Congratulations to Hayley Cunningham, MD, Infectious Diseases Fellow, for her recent award as a scholar of the Brown University Community and Clinical Research Training (CCRT) Program. The goal of the NIH-funded CCRT program is to train the next generation of researchers to end the HIV epidemic and to conduct research related to reducing racial disparities in HIV outcomes in the Southern United States.
The program was initially funded in 2008 and prioritizes training investigators from or conducting practice-oriented research in geographic hotspots of HIV infection. The structured mentoring program will focus on community-engaged scholarship, geographically circumscribed interventions, reducing racial disparities in HIV infection, partnering with health departments, and delivering proven HIV prevention and care interventions through novel means in the rural South. Training includes formal coursework, quarterly mentoring workshops, one-on-one mentoring, epidemiological design, and clinical service delivery experiences in real-world clinical and community settings. The program scholars will lead scientific investigation addressing social, structural and behavioral drivers of the epidemic; lead clinical, epidemiological and implementation research to mitigate HIV/AIDS disparities; and develop, implement, and evaluate culturally appropriate and geographically circumscribed interventions.
Dr. Cunningham’s research focus is improving HIV prevention and treatment among gender diverse communities. As an Interdisciplinary Research Training Program in AIDS (IRTPA) T32 trainee, her current project involves mapping the PrEP care continuum for transgender patients within the Duke health care system. At the same time, she is working to integrate PrEP care in the Gender Medicine Clinic to improve PrEP uptake and adherence. She hopes to partner with the Durham County Health Department and community-based organizations to increase awareness, access, and acceptability of PrEP, HIV testing, and HIV treatment among gender diverse communities in the Triangle.