PROJECT SUMMARY – OVERALL
This application is to transition the University of Miami (UM) Center for HIV and Research in Mental Health
(CHARM) from a Developmental to a Full NIMH AIDS Research Center (ARC), the next phase in the process
of successfully establishing the Center, creating infrastructure, and catalyzing and developing multidisciplinary
HIV/AIDS mental health (MH) research at our institution. Specific accomplishments during the Developmental
period include dramatic growth of externally funded research related to MH and HIV, establishment and
continuous development of meaningful community engaged activities at the institution, support of yearly
developmental awards, a T32 on HIV/mental health research award related to underrepresented minorities,
competition nationally for EHE supplements, increase in the number of new faculty both overall and in terms of
diversity, and achievement of outstanding early “return on investments” from mentoring our junior faculty.
Our theme is our organizing mission statement, “To promote, develop, and support high-impact, high-
quality, community-engaged HIV research addressing mental health and related disparities as a
scientific, strategic, and mentoring resource to end the HIV epidemic.” The significant HIV-related mental
health disparities facing our region’s diverse populations in combination with our institution’s strengths make
UM an ideal setting to establish a research infrastructure that can become a national resource. The proposed
organization, structure and distribution of activities of our Cores arises from our mission statement and from
iterative growth and focus during the Developmental period, which has created an effective functional Center.
Ongoing strategic planning includes continuous guidance from our stakeholders, our Community Advisory
Board, our External and Internal Advisory board, and monthly meetings with the other NIMH-funded ARC
Directors. The Administrative (Admin) Core, as an organizational hub, provides Center leadership, strategic
planning, and coordinates cross-Core activities. The Developmental (Dev) Core awards pilot studies and
mentors early-stage investigators and investigators new to HIV/mental health research. The Methods Core
provides innovative research design, biostatistical (e.g. multilevel modeling, machine learning, geospatial
analysis), data management, and qualitative research expertise and maintains the data elements for the
Center’s consent-to-contact databases and a REDCap measures library. The Mental Health Disparities and
Community Engagement (MHD-CE) Core houses our community engagement activities and provides
expertise and resources to promote culturally competent approaches, tools, and interventions for ethical, multi-
level, community-engaged research addressing MH and HIV-related health disparities. The Equitable
Implementation Science (EIS) Core, a new core, provides design and implementation science resources and
expertise to extend the equitable reach of evidenced-based interventions.
