Contacts:
Sarah Goodwin

Kathi Ovnic
Holly Korschun
November 1, 1999
EMORY CENTER FOR AIDS RESEARCH (CFAR) SERVES AS COLLABORATING CENTER FOR UNAIDS PROGRAM

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has designated the Emory/Atlanta Center for AIDS Research a UNAIDS Collaborating Center, one of only six designated UNAIDS Centers worldwide.
As a UNAIDS Center, the Emory/Atlanta CFAR will participate in collaborative projects with UNAIDS that include basic science research, epidemiology, clinical science, social science and vaccine research. The Emory CFAR also may produce or review guidelines concerning HIV and AIDS and organize meetings and activities among different countries and institutions on behalf of UNAIDS.


"This designation will allow the Emory CFAR to play an extended role in international strategic planning processes, with the goal of strengthening the response of developing countries to HIV and AIDS," says James W. Curran, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Emory/Atlanta CFAR and dean of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.


In September 1998 the Emory/Atlanta CFAR was designated a National Institutes of Health (NIH) official CFAR site. The CFAR designation was designed to encourage multidisciplinary cooperation among diverse HIV/AIDS programs in Atlanta as well as stimulate applications for increased funding and attract new investigators to HIV/AIDS research. More than 100 investigators at Emory are involved in basic science, behavioral science and clinical research in HIV/AIDS. In October 1999, Emory dedicated its new Vaccine Research Center, which has a primary research focus on developing HIV vaccines.


The NIH also has designated Emory as an AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP), part of the NIH Fogarty International Center. Through the AITRP fellowship program Emory is enhancing HIV/AIDS-related research capabilities within the countries of Mexico, Vietnam and the Republic of Georgia.


Carlos del Rio, M.D., Emory associate professor of medicine and principal investigator of the AITRP program, was instrumental in Emory’s designation as a UNAIDS Collaborating Center. Dr. del Rio has been actively involved as a consultant with the UNAIDS program since its inception, as well as with the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS program.


"Under this designation, the Emory AIDS research community will be able to serve as consultants for UNAIDS in a more formal way," says Dr. del Rio.
"This also will increase Emory’s visibility as a center for excellence in the global fight against AIDS."

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