CDEIPI Monthly Newsletter

March 2022

Each month, the CDEIPI newsletter will spotlight one of the CDEIPI programs.

PROJECT SPOTLIGHT

UW/Fred Hutch CFAR/University of Hawai’i-Mãnoa: Supporting undergraduate and graduate Indigenous scholars on their path to HIV-related research careers

The UW/Fred Hutch CFAR/University of Hawai’i-Mãnoa CDEIPI program is led by Dr. Jennifer Balkus and Dr. Karina Walters. The overall goal of this program is to introduce undergraduate and graduate American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) scholars to the field of HIV research, connect scholars with Indigenous mentors, and provide networking opportunities to facilitate future training opportunities related to HIV science. This pilot program will serve as a critical starting point toward building a sustainable program to attract and retain Indigenous scholars who are at the early stages of their academic journey.

The UW/Fred Hutch CFAR, in collaboration with scholars at UW’s Indigenous Wellness Research Institute and the University of Hawai’i-Mãnoa have launched “Building Indigenuity, Generating HIV Science: HIV/AIDS Research Training (BIG HART)”, an exciting training opportunity and seminar series that features Indigenous scientists and practitioners working across the spectrum of HIV science.

For more details and to register to participate in an upcoming seminar, click here.

ADMINISTRATIVE CORE UPDATES

Great news! The NIH CFAR Program announced a new supplemental funding opportunity for CDEIPI programs. CFARs are invited to submit proposals that build upon current programs or develop new programs. CFARs may elect to collaborate with additional HBCUs and other minority serving institutions. Click here for the full announcement and eligibility criteria.

To date, the Coordinating Center has received subaward documents from 11 of the 17 CDEIPI subrecipients. If your subaward is not established or if you are unsure of the award status, please check with your institution’s fiscal representatives to ensure all subaward documents have been reviewed, signed, and returned to GW.

Contact: Patti Simon at psimon@gwu.edu for more information.

PROGRAM CORE UPDATES

On February 24, the Program Core held its monthly meeting of the program leads from each of the CDEIPI sites. The Program Core reported on what they learned from a survey of the program leads regarding their needs and preferences for the monthly meeting format and topic areas. Based on the results, the first half of each call will feature 1-2 program presentations focused on a specific topic of interest, determined by the program leads. The second half of the monthly calls will be used for discussion, troubleshooting challenges, and sharing promising practices. The February call featured two presentations focused on curriculum from Dr. John Sauceda (UCSF/San Francisco State University) and Dr. Mark Burke (DC CFAR/Howard University).

For more information, please see the meeting slides and recording.

Next Meeting: Thursday, March 24 from 3-4 PM ET

Contact: Brandi Robinson at bnrobin@gwu.edu for more information.

EVALUATION CORE UPDATES

Participants in the February 24 Evaluation Core call were invited to provide feedback on the Quarterly Evaluation Survey test site. This survey will use a hybrid qualitative/quantitative approach to collect data from project sites as one element of the overall CDEIPI evaluation. Participants then joined breakouts organized by programs with similar characteristics: career development/mentoring programs, summer/specialized workshops, and leveraging established programs. These groups discussed and reported back key takeaways on potential cross-site evaluation methods that can be coordinated to capture the shared nature of the programs. Suggestions included developing a general satisfaction survey for participants, a tool for evaluating the quality of mentoring, and identifying other existing metrics that may be used across programs. This discussion will inform the development of common evaluation tools for CDEIPI.

For more information, please see the meeting slides and recording.

Next Meeting: Thursday, March 24 from 1-2 PM ET

Contact: Lorena Segarra at lsegarra@gwu.edu for more information.

We look forward to sharing updates and resources with you in this newsletter and on our website. Please let us know if there are other ways the CDEIPI Coordinating Center can support your important work.

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CDEIPI is a supplement to the DC CFAR, an NIH-funded program (P30AI117970), which is supported by the following NIH Co-Funding and Participating Institutes and Centers: NIAID, NCI, NICHD, NIDCR, NHLBI, NIDA, NIMH, NIA, NIDDK, NINR, NIMHD, FIC, and OAR. The content is the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.