HIV Prevention and Treatment

The goals of the Columbia Research Unit (CRU) are to set the standards of care for people living with HIV and to help speed the development of an effective vaccine to prevent HIV infection. The program works toward these goals by engaging the community and conducting clinical studies within the Division of Infectious Diseases at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. The HPTRP participates actively in studies sponsored by two NIH-funded networks:

1. AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) is the largest NIH-sponsored HIV clinical trials organization and plays a major role in defining the standards of care for treatment of HIV infection and opportunistic diseases related to HIV/AIDS around the world. We provide a wide range of treatment studies with four areas of focus:
   1. End organ disease and inflammation
   2. HIV reservoirs and viral eradication
   3. Hepatitis
   4. Tuberculosis.
2. HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) is an NIH-sponsored international network that was designed to facilitate the process of testing preventive vaccines against HIV/AIDS. The New York City HIV Vaccine Trials Unit is a collaboration between the Columbia HPTRP and Project ACHIEVE (AIDS Community Health Initiative En route to a Vaccine Effort) which is part of the New York Blood Center (Beryl Koblin, PhD, principal investigator). The New York City HIV Vaccine Trials Unit supports a large number of HVTN-sponsored preventive vaccine trials, studies investigating combination prevention approaches, as well as a behavioral interventions among high risk individuals. Past and current fellows have conducted HIV prevention research projects with investigators in the vaccine research unit.

The reserach unit also supports pharmaceutical studies. There are opportunities for fellows and residents to participate in all aspects of HIV/AIDS clinical trials.

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