The Core also provides institutional infrastructure by: creating and managing information networks, including CFAR membership and administrative structures for meetings and communications; providing fiscal oversight and planning; securing and managing institutional support; helping with new faculty recruitment; securing space commitments; and managing the CFAR working groups.

The Administrative Core also supports the Office of Community Engagement (OCE). The OCE utilizes strategic engagement as a means of building long-term, sustainable relationships with local communities, people living with HIV and their families, students, research partners and investigators, and other universities and organizations across the country.

Ronald Swanstrom, PhD

CFAR Co-Director

Dr. Swanstrom is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. He has studied retroviruses for 30 years and HIV for nearly 20 years. Dr. Swanstrom’s laboratory studies HIV sequence variability as a tool to explore viral pathogenesis. A major effort is directed at understanding the role of the protease and proteolytic processing in the virus life cycle, and assessing the nature of drug resistance to protease inhibitors. Additionally Dr. Swanstrom studies the role of the HIV-1 Env protein in pathogenesis and its use in vaccine development. These studies have led to a more general consideration of the nature of selective pressure on the viral envelope protein and the mechanisms at work generating diversity in the viral genome as a result of that selective pressure. Dr. Swanstrom has extensive administrative experience, including serving as an Editor for the Journal of Virology and a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors for NCI in ongoing review of the intramural program. Dr. Swanstrom also has long-standing and well-established collaborations with international scientists participating in HIV/AIDS research internationally.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
CB# 7295
Chapel Hill, NC
risunc@med.unc.edu
Fax: 919-966-8212
Office Phone: 919-966-5710

Adaora Adimora, MD, MPH

CFAR Co-Director

Dr. Adimora, an infectious diseases physician, is Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Public Health. She is Principal Investigator of the UNC site of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study-Women’s Interagency HIV Study Combined Cohort Study (MACS/WIHS CCS). Her research focuses on the epidemiology of HIV and STDs among minority populations. She has led a variety of studies, including community based studies, clinical research, secondary analyses of large databases, and a population-based case-control study of risk factors for heterosexual HIV transmission among African Americans. Her work has demonstrated the importance of sexual network patterns and important contextual factors, such as poverty and racism in promoting behaviors that establish and maintain racial disparities in rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in the United States. She has served as Chair of the HIV Medicine Association and also served on the NIAID Advisory Council and the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. She is currently a member of the DHHS Antiretroviral Guidelines Panel and the International AIDS Society’s Governing Council. In 2019 she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
CB# 7030
Chapel Hill, NC
adimora@med.unc.edu
Fax: 919-966-6714
Office Phone: 919-966-2537

Myron S Cohen, MD

CFAR Associate Director

Dr. Cohen is the J. Herbert Bate Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology, and Public Health. He has served as Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases since 1988, and is Director of the UNC Center for Infectious Diseases. Dr. Cohen’s research interests are in transmission and prevention of transmission of HIV. He and his research group have done groundbreaking research in the measurement of factors that facilitate transmission of HIV, with special emphasis on classical sexually transmitted diseases and antiviral effects on suppressing HIV in the genital tract. Dr. Cohen actively participates in national and international policy groups such as the 2000 IOM Committee on HIV Prevention, the CDC STD Guidelines Panel, the CDC HIV Prevention Panel, the OAR International Planning Group, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Human Virology Institute, the China CIPRA, and many NIH and VA Study Sections. Dr. Cohen has significant experience in research at international sites. He has worked with USAID and NIH on HIV prevention since 1989, and is a highly visible leader of international HIV research.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
CB# 7295
Chapel Hill, NC
mscohen@unc.edu
Fax: 919-966-6714
Office Phone: 919-966-2536

Prema Menezes, PhD, PA-C

CFAR Associate Director

Prema Menezes, PhD, PA-C, has extensive experience in grant management and administration. She is both a skilled clinician having worked in HIV care for over 15 years and a clinical scientist with experience in all aspects of designing, managing and implementing clinical research. As Associate Director of the UNC CFAR Clinical Core she helped establish several collaborative programs including the Acute HIV Infection program and the AIDS malignancy consortium. She has worked internationally and was the co-director for the Fogarty Global Health Fellows and Scholars Program at UNC. As an educator she has trained Physician Assistant students for over 10 years, thus ensuring the next generation of health care providers.

CB# 7030, Bioinformatics Building
130 Mason Farm Road, 2nd Floor
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7030
prema_menezes@med.unc.edu
Office Phone: 919-966-1558

David M. Margolis, MD

CFAR Associate Director

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
# CB 7042, 2016 Genetic Medicine Bldg.
120 Mason Farm Road
Chapel Hill, NC  27599-7042
dmargo@med.unc.edu
Office Phone (919) 966-6388

Ronald P Strauss, DMD, PhD

Faculty Director, Office of Community Engagement

Dr. Ronald P. Strauss is University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Executive Vice Provost and Chief International Officer. He holds joint appointments in three schools, as Dental Friends Distinguished Professor in the School of Dentistry’s Department of Dental Ecology, Professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Social Medicine, and Clinical Professor in the Gillings School of Global Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology. Dr. Strauss is a medical sociologist and a dentist. His research has been on the social impacts of HIV/AIDS, craniofacial conditions and global health issues. He is the Lead Faculty member for the Campus-wide course on HIV/AIDS at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Dr. Strauss is a trained ethnographer and has used qualitative and survey research methods in numerous social research projects, and his global work has included being a visiting professor in Brazil and Israel, and conducting social research in Thailand, Moldova and China. Dr. Strauss’s research has focused on the social impacts of chronic health problems, especially in HIV/AIDS. His work combines his clinical, social science, ethical, and health policy interests as they relate to research participation, HIV/AIDS, stigma, and access to healthcare. He is a member of the UNC Craniofacial Center team and a specialist in the assessment and treatment of craniofacial conditions including cleft lip and palate.

As the Executive Vice Provost of UNC, he works with the schools and deans regarding promotion and tenure, faculty recruitment and retention, academic planning, program reviews, senior administrative searches and performance reviews, and University/school accreditation. As UNC’s Chief International Officer he works on global partnerships, advancement activities, and global educational and research initiatives, and provides leadership to the global programs and partnerships of the University.

UNC School of Dentistry
CB# 7450 Room 312
Chapel Hill, NC
ron_strauss@unc.edu
Fax: 919-966-6761
Office Phone: 919-966-2788

Alicia Diggs, BSW, MPH

Manager, Office of Community Engagement

Alicia Diggs is a native of Philadelphia PA but resides in North Carolina. Alicia has a bachelor’s degree in Social Work, a Master’s degree in Public Health is currently working on a PhD in Public Health with a focus in Advocacy and Leadership. Alicia became an HIV/AIDS Activist, Educator, and Speaker in 2004. She has spoken for various organizations who provide services for persons living with HIV in North Carolina such as Piedmont Health Services and Sickle Cell Agency, Guilford County Health Department, and Triad Health Project. She is a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, a member of REPRIEVE Community Advisory Board and Publications Committee, the Wake Forest Baptist Health ANCHOR Study Community Advisory Board, the HIV Prevention Community Advisory Council (HPCAP), the National Community Advisory Board (NCAB) for the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), a former board member of North Carolina Aids Action Network (NCAAN), and the North Carolina State Lead for the Positive Women’s Network-USA. Alicia also became a published author July of 2017 of an autobiography entitled ‘Standing On My Healing: From Tainted To Chosen.

CB#7030; Bioinformatics Bldg
130 Mason Farm Road
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7030
alicia_diggs@med.unc.edu

Overall CFAR Publications