The National Institutes of Health has awarded University of North Carolina’s Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases nearly $25 million over seven years to continue operating its Global HIV Clinical Trials Unit, or CTU. The new funding will support HIV treatment and prevention in adults, children and pregnant women at four research sites — Lilongwe, Malawi; Chapel Hill and Greensboro, North Carolina; and Hanoi, Vietnam.
The NIH has continuously funded the Institute’s HIV research unit since 1987, making it one of the most experienced and successful CTUs in the NIH portfolio. Leading the work from the UNC Department of Medicine’s division of infectious diseases are three co-principal investigators— Joseph Eron, MD, chief of the division; Mina Hosseinipour, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and scientific director of UNC Project Malawi; and David Wohl, MD, professor of medicine and site leader of Chapel Hill’s CTU.
Additional site leaders are Lameck Chinula, MD, Malawi site leader; Cornelius van Dam, MD, Greensboro site leader; and Vivian Go, PhD, Vietnam site leader.
“This new award is exciting and well deserved,” says Myron Cohen, MD, director of the Institute. “It recognizes Dr. Eron’s remarkable leadership and ability to build a great team, from North Carolina to Africa and Vietnam. The funding keeps UNC at the forefront of global research into HIV through 2027 while allowing us to investigate other emerging pathogens that threaten our species.”
Read more from the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases.