It's about a real-life response to AIDS - a fierce commitment to creating and translating knowledge that advances the fight against HIV & AIDS
Carolinas United to End HIV (CUE-HIV)
Carolinas United to End HIV (CUE-HIV): Scientific Working Group
The CUE HIV Scientific Working Group (SWG), formed in 2021, was born out of the knowledge that HIV does not stop at state borders, especially in the era of social media and on-line dating. This SWG combines the efforts of the CUE HIV collaborative with the previous NC Collaborative HIV Epidemiology and Prevention SWG, providing a cohesive approach to identifying and targeting cross-state networks. This cross-state approach can be particularly important in rural areas, where stigma is a driving impetus to finding partners and HIV services away from home, in larger cities and other counties.
Co-Leaders
- Kimberly Powers, Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology
- Ann Dennis, Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases
Mission Statement
CUE-HIV is an interstate collaborative created to address the disproportionate HIV burden in the Carolinas driven by our states’ unique intersection of stigma, poverty, and limited resource allocation. Our initiative employs a multifaceted strategy designed to promote awareness, decrease stigma, expand funding, and improve resource availability with one ultimate goal: ending the HIV epidemic in the Carolinas. We believe that our united front will prove far more impactful than the sum of our individual parts.
Upcoming Meetings
- December 9, 2022
- January 13, 2023
- March 10, 2023
- May 12, 2023
Areas of Expertise
- Epidemiology
- Clinical Research
- Public Health/Surveillance
- Implementation Science
Contact us to become a member or request consultation
Aims:
- Formalize a team of respected and highly engaged academic, clinical, and public health professionals to support implementation and analysis of federal and state-level EtHE plans
- Serve as a “hub” for researchers in HIV-focused behavioral, epidemiological, implementation, and translational science to share ideas
- Tear down silos to bring together intramural and extramural HIV researchers from various disciplines
- Identify opportunities to innovate how statewide data can inform “targeted” activities to address specific steps of the HIV care continuum
- Continue to identify early-stage investigators who could contribute to this field and support them with expert guidance and mentorship for internal and external developmental awards
To achieve these aims, the CUE HIV SWG will use the following mechanisms:
- Quarterly SWG meetings, with in-person and teleconferenced participation options
- A curated, centralized directory of SWG members, including specific interests and skills that can help multidisciplinary teams form more readily
- Support from SWG leadership to provide focused guidance and/or pre-review of final proposals
- Opportunities for developmental award funding through dedicated announcements
- Periodic, webinar-delivered updates on key issues in HIV epidemiology and biomedical prevention
- “Tadpole” reviews of specific aims or concept proposals and “Baby Shark Tank” reviews of more developed research ideas, allowing investigators to get critical, formative input from peers and experts with different perspectives – prior to grant submission
Partner Institutions:
- State of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
- State of South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control
- Mecklenburg County Health Department
- University of South Carolina (Columbia)
- Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston)
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte
- Wake Forest University
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for AIDS Research
Awards:
2019 Ending the HIV Epidemic Supplement Awards:
- Tonia Poteat, PhD: Transforming the Carolinas: Preparing to End the Epidemic for Transgender People of Color in the Carolinas
- Felicia Browne, ScD: Reaching African Americans to Reduce Disparities in HIV Prevention and Treatment: The Carolina CoOp
- Lisa Hightow-Weidman, MD: An Integrated Technology-Based “Status-Neutral” Approach to Engage YMSM/YTGW in the Prevention and Care Continuum in North and South Carolina
2020 Ending the HIV Epidemic Supplement Awards:
- Tonia Poteat, PhD: Transforming the Carolinas 2.0
- Courtney Bonner, PhD: Implementing PrEP into Non-Title X Settings to Reduce HIV Disparities among African American Women in the Atlanta MSA
2021 Ending the HIV Epidemic Supplement Awards:
- Felicia Browne, ScD, MPH: Developing Strategies to improve Engagement in HIV prevention and treatment among people who use drugs in the Charlotte Transitional Grant Area
- Katryna McCoy, PhD, FNP: Enhancing Strategies To Engage Providers in Efforts to Eliminate HIV: Project EnSTEP
2022 Ending the HIV Epidemic Supplement Awards:
- Alysha Maragh-Bass, PhD, MPH: Formative research on a sex-positive tool for PrEP Counseling with Sexual/Gender Minority Youth of Color in NC and CA
Leadership
- State of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
- Zack Moore, State Epidemiologist and Epidemiology Section Chief, Division of Public Health
- Evelyn M. Foust, Communicable Disease Branch Head, Division of Public Health
- State of South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control
- Ali B. Mansaray, Director, Division of STD/HIV & Viral Hepatitis
- Mecklenburg County Health Department
- Raynard Washington, Mecklenburg County Health Director
- University of South Carolina (Columbia)
- Sharon Weissman, Division Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases
- Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston)
- Eric Meissner, Director, HIV and Hepatitis Patient Care and Research
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte
- Patrick A. Robinson, Research Professor, College of Health and Human Services, UNCC
- Wake Forest University
- Kristie Foley, Chair, Dept. of Implementation Science
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for AIDS Research
- Prema Menezes, Associate Director, UNC CFAR
