Yale University

CIRA/St. Petersburg Research Collaborative Project

Principle Investigator(s):

Funder: CIRA
Project period: 03/03/2011 - 06/30/2011
Grant Type: Pilot Project

Abstract Text:

The Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA) at Yale University has been working intently to expand research collaborations in global settings with an initial focus on Russia, where CIRA scientists have been conducting HIV research for some time and thus have established relationships on which to build. The goal of CIRA’s international research initiative is to support a process to enable new and innovative research collaborations between Yale University and St. Petersburg, Russia, to conduct multi-level, multifaceted interventions in these settings to have a greater impact on the epidemic. In 2010, CIRA hosted strategic planning meetings of research partners from Russia and Yale to begin to build the infrastructure for sustained collaborative research designed to respond to the threat of a generalized epidemic in St. Petersburg due to uncontrolled heterosexual and injection drug use (IDU) related transmission. Dr. Heimer and Dr. Cleary, CIRA PI, met with local officials and HIV providers from St. Petersburg to explore prospects for conducting multi-level research. A proposal for a pilot project to develop an HIV intervention research plan with partners in St. Petersburg was then prepared by Dr. Heimer and other CIRA scientists, in concert with Stellit, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and research collaborator based in Russia. This pilot project focuses on developmental issues that are integral to the expansion of research collaborations and interventions in St. Petersburg and will set the stage for collaborative funding applications to expand HIV research activity and capacity in this setting.