New clinical site targets HIV in women
After receiving an NIH grant for $11.9 million, Gina Wingood, professor of behavioral sciences and health education, is co-directing a new clinical research site focused on women and HIV.
The locale is part of the Women’s Interagency HIV Cohort Study, which was established in 1993 with locations in the Midwest and on the West and East coasts to study women who are either HIV-infected or at risk for infection. Emory’s site is one of four and the first to be located in the South.
Wingood, the recipient of the Agnes Moore Research in AIDS Endowment, leads the Emory locale with Igho Ofotokun, an infectious disease specialist at Grady Memorial Hospital and a clinician scientist with the Emory Center for AIDS Research (CFAR). The researchers are partnering with SisterLove Inc. and other metro Atlanta-based community organizations to raise awareness about the study.
Emory’s efforts focus on HIV/AIDS secondary prevention for women through immunological, pharmacological, epidemiological, and behavioral research and clinical interventions. Emory and its affiliates care for nearly 8,000 patients with HIV, making for a large pool of potential research participants. According to the CDC, 40% to 50% of people with AIDS in the United States live in the South.
"Understanding the demographics of the HIV epidemic and formulating prevention and treatment goals in specific areas of the country is critical to improving outcomes and controlling this infection," says Wingood, who also co-directs the Prevention Science Core for CFAR.
