Public Health (Epidemiology, Health Behavior)

Below is a list of projects for this category:

A Partnership Assessing Risky Behaviors Associated with HIV/AIDS for Women of Color
Risky sexual behavior among African American women

Barriers to Risk Behavior Disclosure During HIV Test Counseling.
This research will identify predictors of non-disclosure of stigmatizing behaviors by men during HIV test counseling and identify aspects of the HIV counseling session that are barriers to non-disclosure.

CDC, University of Technical Assistance Projects in Support of the Global Aids Program (GAP)
University of Technical Assistance Projects in Support of the Global Aids Program (GAP) To provide technical assistance (TA) in support of the CDC Global AIDS Program, the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill proposes a team with extensive experience in research, prevention and control of HIV, STI, TB, and other infectious diseases in low-income countries. Responsibilities include the development, supervision and analysis of formative research.

Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Initiative (CHAVI)
Subcontract with Duke University, prime grantee. UNC participates in this multi-center effort to develop a new HIV vaccine strategy. UNC faculty on the UNC campus conduct clinical observational studies designed to detect patients with acute HIV infection and enroll such subjects in an observational cohort (Core B).

Combating Tobacco at NCCU
Goal is to encourage prevention and cessation of tobacco use among students at NCCU(funded by the NC Health & Wellness Trust Fund)

Community-based HIV voluntary counseling and testing and its impact on HIV incidence: A multi-country study in Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Thailand
This is a community efficacy trial that is designed to measure the impact of increased access to HIV VCT on behavior change and on HIV incidence in 32 communities in four developing countries. Responsibilities include developing and coordinating the qualitative research for the study in all four countries

Contraceptive and Reproductive Health Technologies Research and Utilization Cooperative Agreement
The objective of this cooperative agreement is to expand and improve the choices of contraceptive methods and technologies. The priority is on contraceptives that are low-cost, effective, acceptable and easy to use. The grant evaluates potential microbicides, addresses methodological challenges, and develops clinical testing sites. The grant also advances the research-to-practice agenda in reproductive health.

Diffusion of Drug Prevention Curricula Nationwide
The purpose of this study is to investigate progress in the state of substance use prevention practice in the nation's middle schools.

Efficacy of HIV Post-test support for ANC in South Africa (SAHAPS-South Africa HIV/AIDS Antenatal Post-test Support Study)
This is a randomized controlled trial to examine the efficacy of an integrated model of HIV post-test support for women attending antenatal care (ANC) in South Africa. The proposed intervention is designed to tailor VCT for the ANC setting and provide a continuum of psychosocial support for pregnant women through: (1) a standardized health education video before HIV pre-test counseling; (2) HIV pre- and post-test counseling sessions that prepare women for decisions related to testing, serostatus disclosure and ARV prophylaxis and help women plan strategies for sexual risk behavior change; (3) two additional post-test counseling sessions which coincide with 6 and 10-week postpartum visits and focus on partner testing, sexual risk behavior change and family planning decisions and; (4) an active referral system to post-test support groups run by an NGO.

Enhancing the Prospective Prediction of Psychosis
This 3-site collaborative U01 aims to improve identification of individuals who will develop schizophrenic psychosis (including brief psychotic disorder, schizophreniform disorder, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder) at the initial prodromal stage of illness, prior to the onset of the full schizophrenic syndrome.

Gastrointestinal Biopsychosocial Research Center
This infrastructure grant will establish and fund a Center consisting of an Administrative Core and 6 research cores developed to expand research on the mind/body connection and its effects on functional GI and motility disorders. Leserman acts as a research design consultant.

Governor's Advocacy Council for Persons with Disabilities (GACPD) contract
Research looking at identification and treatment of incarcerated individuals with mental illness or developmental disabilities

HIV Among Rural Latino Gay Men and MSM in the Southeast
The goal of this study is to explore the social and sexual networking patterns and behavioral, psychological, and socio-cultural correlates of HIV risk among predominantly Spanish-speaking rural Latino gay and bisexual men and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM).

HIV Prevention Trials Network Coordinating and Operations Center
The objective of this cooperative agreement is to discover and develop interventions that can be used globally to prevent sexual and/or parenteral transmission of HIV.

Identification of ZIP Code Areas Eligible for HPSA and PSA Bonus Payments
The purpose of this project is to identify ZIP codes that correspond to areas where physicians qualify for Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) bonus payments. Lists of the physician scarcity areas that will gain and lose designation status based on the new data, as well as a list of how many physicians will be impacted by the changes will be created.

Infant Care, Feeding, and Risk of Obesity
This is a longitudinal, observational study of African-American caregivers/infants in North Carolina that examines: 1) household factors that influence parenting and infant feeding patterns; 2) relationship of feeding styles to infant diet; and 3) relationship of dietary intake to infant fatness.

Infant Care, Feeding, and Risk of Obesity (Minority Supplement)
The objective of this project is to explore the role that child care plays in African-American infant obesity by examining the feeding policy and practices and physical activity practices of alternative care givers and the determinants of parental choice of these alternative care givers by low-income African American mothers.

Infectious Disease Epidemiology Training for Malawians
Controllable infectious diseases, such as malaria and sexually transmitted infections, are rampant in Malawi. In order to combat these diseases, the government of Malawi has given high priority to training medical and public health practitioners, and established a College of Medicine in 1992 and a School of Community and Public Health in 2003.

International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network Ongoing Studies Center
The objective of this cooperative agreement is to discover and develop interventions that can be used globally to prevent sexual and/or parenteral transmission of HIV.

MEASURE Evaluation Project
MEASURE Evaluation fosters the demand for innovations in effective monitoring and evaluation of data. Our guidance empowers our partners to improve family planning, maternal and child health, nutrition and the prevention of HIV/AIDS, STDs and other infectious diseases worldwide.

Microbicides Trials Network Operations Center
The objective of this cooperative agreement is to discover and develop interventions that can be used globally to prevent sexual and/or parenteral transmission of HIV.

Microglial and choroid plexus macrophages in neuroAIDS
National Insititute of Mental Health RO1 grant

Minority Health Project for the Elimination of Health Disparities
The project was created for the purpose of improving the quality of available data on racial and ethnic populations, expanding the capacity of minority-health researchers to conduct statistical research and develop research proposals, and fostering a network of researchers in minority health. The project has also expanded to include announcements, events, reports and webpage links through its website, http://www.minority.unc.edu/.

Neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory actions of novel growth factor mimetics

North American AIDS Cohorts Collaboration on Research and Design
The NA-ACCORD is an international collaboration of classical epidemiologic and observational clinical HIV cohorts. The overall aims are to study HIV treatment outcomes and develop new methods for observational HIV research.

Pilot Cohort Study of the Sexual and Social Networks and Risky Behaviors of Young HIV-infected Men Who Have sex with men (MSM)
MSM diagnosed with acute HIV infection will be enrolled into a study to assess risk behaviors. Two generations of sex partners and social friends will also be recruited for each index participant to assess the relationships between sexual and social network characteristics, individual risk behaviors, and HIV infection.

Piloting a family based program for preventing adolescent dating abuse
This project will develop and pilot test Families for Safe Dates, a family-based program designed to address multiple types of youth violence, including dating violence (psychological, physical, and sexual), victimization and perpetration, and violence directed at peers.

Project Commit to Prevent
Establishment of HIV/STD peer education program at NCCU. Funded by NC Department of Health & Human Services.

Promoting Safer Behavior among HIV-infected Viremic Patients
This is a randomized controlled trial of a motivational interviewing-based intervention to enhance safer sexual behaviors of people living with HIV compared with those receiving a nutritional program.

Rapid Response to Requests for Rural Data Analysis and Issue Specific Rural Research Studies
In order to ensure that rural policy is designed to protect and improve the health of rural residents, data on the unique characteristics of rural people, health care providers, and the health care infrastructure, and the potential impact of policy and challenges rural areas face in health care delivery must be made available to policy makers, rural organizations and the federal Office of Rural Health Policy. The North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center, in collaboration with the Rural Policy Research Institute Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis and the Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis, provide rapid response for rural-focused data analysis and conduct issue-specific rural research studies in response to emerging policy issues.

Sexual Relationships and Behavior Study in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
This study will evaluate the utility of sexual network analysis for identifying and targeting acutely and recently HIV-infected persons to reduce on-going sexual transmission. It is being conducted in collaboration with the Provincial AIDS Committee in Ho Chi Minh City.

Sexually Transmitted Infection Clinical Trials Group
The STI CTG is a multicenter contract created to solicit and carry out clinical trials related to STI diagnosis, therapy and prevention. Studies of new diagnostic tests, therapeutic agents, vaccines and microbicides will be carried out through the contract.

The effect of type of initial HAART of short term and long term virologic and immunologic resopnses
Effect of type of initial HAART on short term and long term virologic and immunologic response.

The Effectiveness of an Integrated Feeding and Care Intervention among 3-15 month old infants in Andhra Pradesh, India
The study assesses the impact of an integrated responsive feeding and infant stimulation intervention delivered to care givers of 3-15 month old infants on dietary intake, growth, and development in India.

Vulnerable populations and special protections in ACTUs
Career Development Award that focuses on three studies to explore patient-subject vulnerability in AIDS Clinical Trials. The first two studies qualitatively explores the concept of vulnerable populations from the investigator/study coordinator perspectives. The third study is an intervention study to improve informed consent understanding among AIDS clinical trial enrollees.