Core Structure

The CIRA mission will be implemented through the coordinated effort of five cores comprised of scientists representing multiple disciplines, research trainees, community and institutional partners, as well as three advisory boards and an Executive Committee. CIRA’s Executive Committee (consisting of all Core Directors and Associate Directors and 2 CAB members) will provide ongoing operations and fiscal management and professional support. The Executive Committee will jointly make decisions on scientific and strategic direction and provide a vehicle to promote integration of effort across cores. The External Advisory Board (EAB) comprised of eminent HIV research scientists, will review our scientific portfolio and foci. The CAB will ensure that CIRA’s activities align with community priorities and CAB members will be integrated into each Core. The Internal Advisory Board (IAB) will consist of leaders at Yale (Deans and Center Directors) in areas relevant to the focus of CIRA (e.g., health equity, digital health, global health) that can provide insight into trends in these research areas as well as facilitate collaborations and shared interests.

Administrative Core

The Administrative Core provides overall leadership and management support to the Center, supports the work of all Cores, facilitates communication across cores and the broader CIRA community, conducts strategic planning to identify new scientific direction and stimulate interdisciplinary research collaborations, and monitors and evaluates the impact of the Center.

Core Aims:

  • Establish and execute scientific and organizational direction and strategy
  • Provide fiscal and administrative oversight, coordination, and operations management
  • Lead network building of HIV researchers within and outside of Yale
  • Assess the effectiveness and impact of the Center and its individual cores

Clinical and Health Services Research (CHSR) Core

The Clinical and Health Services Research (CHSR) Core promotes multidisciplinary intervention research in diverse clinical settings that mitigates the impact of mental health disorders, substance use, and other HIV comorbidities and advances the uptake and efficacy of status neutral HIV care (i.e., HIV prevention and treatment services across the care continuum, regardless of one’s HIV status).

Core Aims:

  • Promote integrated services to address mental health, substance use with HIV-related services across clinical and non-clinical settings
  • Promote novel digital health-based approaches for fostering equitable research
  • Promote research on key structural determinants related to clinical health service implementation (e.g., forced displacement, mobility, clinic-level factors, incarceration)

Community Capacity and Economics (CCE)

The Community Capacity and Economics (CCE) Core provides services that stimulate, promote and advance the conduct of innovative Community-Engaged Research (CEnR) by CIRA scientists and community research partners.

Core Aims:

  • Promote collaborative academic-community partnerships 
  • Develop capacity to use critical social science, and anti-racist, anti-colonial, and anti-oppressive public health approaches
  • Promote research on key structural determinants related to social justice and health equity (e.g., racism, stigma)

Development Core

The Development Core stimulates and supports new HIV science and scientists through a variety of essential services that promote and facilitate research development and research careers.

Core Aims:

  • Provide scientific resources to facilitate the development of innovative and impactful HIV equity research
  • Train, mentor, and guide early-career scholars to reduce HIV and academic inequities

Dissemination Implementation Science and Methods (DISM) Core

The Dissemination and Implementation Science Methods (DISM) Core will expand scientific knowledge and develop, apply, and promote DISM in HIV research to improve status neutral HIV care (i.e., HIV prevention and treatment services across the continuum regardless of HIV status), especially among groups facing disparities, including individuals from historically marginalized populations based on sexuality, gender, and/or race and ethnicity, in New England, small urban areas, designated priority Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) locations, and globally, using best practices for impactful implementation science (IS) for EHE.

Core Aims:

  • Provide expertise, consultations, and technical assistance on methods, design, and analysis for HIV Implementation Science 
  • Develop and apply innovative research methods and technologies to maximize the impact of HIV equity research, emphasizing Implementation Science

Qualitative Research Discussion Group (QRDG)

The goal of the Qualitative Research Discussion Group (QRDG) is to provide opportunities for individuals involved in qualitative or mixed-methods research to meet regularly to discuss the qualitative research process and potentially problem-solve issues that may arise when engaged in qualitative research. Discussion topics include, but are not limited to: logistics, data management, analysis, dissemination, role of the researcher, and ethics. It is intended as a venue for discussing research in progress and new or relevant literature on qualitative methods and practice as well as to create networking opportunities and foster research collaborations.