Yale University

Core Structure

In order to support our mission for interdisciplinary work, CIRA's organizational structure is divided up into five sections or "Cores". Each of these cores provides a different type of support and service to a CIRA affiliate who is performing research.

Each Core offers individual and core consultations, as well as a variety of other services and activities to assist in the development of new research collaborations, the conduct of research, and the dissemination of research findings. Reach out to the appropriate Core contact for further information.

Administrative (Admin) Core (Trace Kershaw, trace.kershaw@yale.edu)

The Administrative Core provides overall scientific and organizational leadership and management to facilitate implementation of CIRA’s mission. Specific aims of the Administrative Core are to:

  • Establish and execute scientific and organizational direction and strategy.
  • Provide fiscal and administrative oversight, coordination, and operations management.
  • Provide information technology resources to support research development and dissemination.
  • Assess the effectiveness and impact of the Center and its individual cores.

Core Services:

  • Facilitate the recruitment and onboarding of new affiliates.
  • Coordinate the New England HIV Information Science Network Annual Meeting and CIRA Science Day.
  • Coordinate international activities with an emphasis on social justice and health equity; implementation science; and digital strategies for serving mobile and displaced populations through integrated mental health, substance use, and status neutral HIV care.
  • Provide leadership training to Center Leadership in order to foster the next generation of HIV equity leaders.
  • Provide information technology resources to support research development and dissemination.
  • Assess the effectiveness and impact of the Center and its individual cores through continuous monitoring and evaluation.

Clinical and Health Services Research (CHSR) Core (Dini Harsono, dini.harsono@yale.edu)

Core Aims:

  • Stimulate and support interdisciplinary collaborations that use implementation science and innovative approaches to improve health behaviors and health and mental health outcomes, decreasing further HIV transmission, and reducing HIV-related stigma with a focus on persons with HIV (PWH) and HIV negative individuals at increased risk for HIV.
  • Promote and support the development of international HIV research collaborations.
  • Mentor early-stage investigators in health services and clinical HIV prevention research and implementation science.

Core Services:

  • Organization of interdisciplinary clinical and health services-focused seminars and consultations with a focus on health disparities and structural determinants, and a special interest in telehealth and technology-based innovations.
  • Identifying emerging issues in the HIV care continuum and implementation science to facilitate new collaborative research on HIV clinical and health services.
  • Implementation of CIRA's international HIV research programs including seminars, funding opportunity workshops, International Visiting Fellow Program, and collaboration with the Yale Institute of Global Health and other global health programs.
  • Coordination of CIRA's HIV/AIDS in Humanitarian Crises initiative to support research on the issues affecting persons with HIV or at risk for HIV in humanitarian settings.
  • Supporting early-career investigators in health services and clinical research through networking opportunities and connections with senior scientists.

Community Research and Implementation (CRI) Core (Daniel Davidson, daniel.davidson@yale.edu)

Core Aims:

  • Provide services that stimulate, promote and advance the conduct of innovative community-based HIV research by CIRA scientists and community research partners.
  • Develop and expand the New England HIV Implementation Science Network, a regional coalition of community and academic research partners, to stimulate and facilitate the production of funded research projects and publications on HIV implementation science.
  • Develop the capacity of community partners and CIRA scientists to engage in rigorous community-engaged research (CEnR) and Implementation Science (IS) with a special emphasis on small urban centers that have a high prevalence of HIV.

Core Services:

  • Opportunity to participate in the New England HIV Implementation Science Network symposia, panel discussions, and workshops.
  • Consultations on: community-engaged research (CEnR) methods and community-based Implementation Science (IS); dissemination; linkages with community research partners, community-based organizations (CBOs), and scientists; and other community-related issues.
  • Mentoring awardees of pilot projects with a CEnR or IS focus.
  • Fostering connections with regional CBOs, including tours and virtual tours of local agencies.
  • Panel discussions and seminars (e.g. CIRA Talks, Community Conversations) on community-relevant HIV research, HIV service delivery, and topics of relevance to communities impacted by HIV.
  • Assistance with the dissemination of research project information and findings to the community, such as through regional workshops and conferences and a CIRA podcast, Human Subjects.

Development (Dev) Core (Daniel Davidson, daniel.davidson@yale.edu)
Given the wide scope and complex and changing nature of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, it is critical to ensure ample opportunities for developing new and innovative research, and to encourage new scientists at all levels and from diverse backgrounds and fields to undertake this research, while supporting them in their efforts to do so.

Core Aims:

  • Provide scientific support to facilitate the development of rigorous and impactful domestic and international research consistent with CIRA’s mission, with a focus on Implementation Science.
  • Train, mentor, and provide career development guidance to early-career investigators, including pre and postdoctoral fellows, international trainees, and junior faculty, with emphasis on scholars from underrepresented backgrounds.

Core Services:

  • Peer review services in which a multidisciplinary group of colleagues with a range of expertise provides constructive feedback on proposals, manuscripts, and research presentations.
  • Coordination of two NIMH-funded training programs, Yale AIDS Prevention Training Program (Y-APT) and Research Education Institute for Diverse Scholars (REIDS).
  • Opportunities for pilot project awards to offer resources for preliminary and/or feasibility studies in HIV-related research that will ultimately lead to larger externally funded research projects.
  • Opportunity for career development consultations to affiliated early-career investigators and training fellows to receive tailored career advice from senior faculty.
  • Support in the development of diversity supplements for eligible CIRA affiliated grants.

Interdisciplinary Research Methods (IRM) Core (Raul U. Hernandez-Ramirez, raul.hernandezramirez@yale.edu)
The Interdisciplinary Research Methods (IRM) Core provides centralized expertise and resources in support of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research design, and the collection, management, and analysis of data, with emphasis in implementation science. The Core's expertise is focused in the areas of: implementation science, quantitative methods and biostatistics, qualitative methods, ethnography, and mixed methods, data collection and management, and operations research and mathematical modeling. The Core also supports the development of cross-study analyses, and new methodologies, models, and software applications for data analysis in CIRA research. In addition, the IRM Core organizes seminars and workshops highlighting topics in methods and study design.

Core Aims:

  • Provide expertise and consultations on methods, design and analysis emphasizing Implementation Science.
  • Develop and apply innovative research methods and technologies in HIV research.
  • Provide methodological training focusing on interdisciplinary Implementation Science.
  • Assess and analyze the performance of the New England HIV Implementation Science Network.

Core Services:

  • Advice in the study design and design/modification of data management systems.
  • Advice in implementation science designs, frameworks, strategies, measures, and outcomes.
  • Support and consultations for statistical analyses and power and sample size calculations.
  • Help for circumstances where sampling has been problematic (missing data, clustering, unequal, etc.) through the application of Bayesian methods, Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE), and other algorithms.
  • Data mapping, GIS, and spatial analysis using advanced spatial statistics.
  • Development of monitoring and evaluation plans, sensitivity analysis, and procedures to analyze qualitative outcomes, including the use of rapid qualitative assessment methods.
  • Support with statistical software.
  • Consultations and training in qualitative data collection and analysis including the conduct of focus groups, individual interviews, and ethnographic observations, and mixed methods.
  • Advice in the design of infectious disease modeling and economic analysis of care and prevention programs.