Nursing plays key role in Texas CFAR

A new $9.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will expand the reach of HIV research in Texas, with nurse scientists at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston serving in leadership roles.

Led by Baylor College of Medicine, the Texas Development Center for AIDS Research (Texas D-CFAR) was established in 2021 in partnership with UTHealth Houston and the Texas Biomedical Research Institute. The center was dedicated to advancing research aimed at ending the HIV epidemic and improving HIV health outcomes in Texas.

Renewed and expanded NIH funding enables the transition to a full-fledged Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), explained Diane Santa Maria, dean of Cizik School of Nursing. She is director of the center’s Development Core.

Santa Maria has served as principal investigator on more than $7 million in NIH grants for studies among youth experiencing homelessness that address HIV and substance use prevention. Last year, she helped launch the national Inter-CFAR Nurse Scientist Leadership Working Group in collaboration with Kamila A. Alexander, PhD, MPH, RN, from Johns Hopkins University.

“Behavioral, cultural, and environmental factors lie at the core of HIV prevention, and nurses who work at the intersection of science and patient care are well positioned to develop effective prevention and care management interventions,” said Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, RN, ACRN, PHNA-BC, FSAHM, FAAN.

Taking on a new leadership role within the center is Higinio Fernández-Sánchez, PhD, RN, FAAN, an assistant professor in the Department of Research at Cizik School of Nursing. He has been appointed associate director of the Community Engagement Research Core and will focus on advancing community-engaged HIV research across Texas.

Fernández-Sánchez is one of four Cizik School of Nursing faculty members who received $50,000 grants from the center over the past five years. His award supported research focused on prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases among Spanish-speaking migrants in the Houston area.

The D-CFAR also funded a study of glycemic outcomes in people with both HIV and type 2 diabetes by Veronica Brady, PhD, FNP-BC, and HIV-related symptom research by Meagan Whisenant, PhD, APRN, FAAN, both associate professors in the Department of Research. Emily Barr, PhD, CPNP-PC, CNM, a former Cizik School of Nursing faculty member, received two grants from the D-CFAR for research involving the use of telehealth with youth living with HIV.

“We have developed a strong area of focus on HIV research at Cizik School of Nursing with the help of the D-CFAR,” Santa Maria said. “Over the next five years, the center is committed to supporting additional early-stage and new-to-HIV investigators by funding more innovative, nurse-led interventions to help end the HIV epidemic.”

The Texas CFAR is led by Thomas Giordano, MD, MPH, of Baylor College of Medicine, with Roberto Arduino, MD, of McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, and Deepak Kaushal, PhD, of the Texas Biomedical Research Institute serving as co-directors. In addition to Santa Maria, site leaders at UTHealth Houston are Arduino and Hulin Wu, PhD, of the School of Public Health. Also serving as a site lead is Elizabeth Chiao, MD, MPH, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The Texas CFAR includes:

• the Developmental Core led by Santa Maria;
• the Advanced Technology Core led by Jason Kimata, PhD (Baylor College of Medicine), and Mahesh Mohan, DVM, PhD (Texas Biomedical Research Institute);
• the Clinical and Biostatistics Core, led by Jordan Lake, MD, MSc (McGovern Medical School);
• the Community Engagement Research Core, led by Shital Patel, MD, MS (Baylor College of Medicine);
• the Substance Use and Mental Health Scientific Working Group, led by Joy Schmitz, PhD, and Angela Heads, PhD (both of McGovern Medical School);
• the Aging and HIV Scientific Working Group, led by Andrew DiNardo, MD, PhD (Baylor College of Medicine) and Andrew Pickering, PhD (McGovern Medical School); and
• the Community Engagement Board, chaired by Steven Vargas.

Learn more about the Texas Center for AIDS Research and how to become a member.