HANC Newsletter | March 2024
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The Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination (HANC) is located at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, WA. We acknowledge the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Duwamish, Puyallup, Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.
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HANC Welcomes New Project Coordinator Murph Fuentes and Legacy Project Manager Cat Banobi
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We are delighted to announce that HANC is welcoming two new staff members! Murph Fuentes started on February 20th as the new HANC Project Coordinator. She will assist in the coordination of HANC activities across the Networks. Cat Banobi begins on March 11th as HANC's new Legacy Project Manager, where she will support the efforts of the Legacy Project to improve the participation of underrepresented communities in clinical trials. Please join us in welcoming Murph and Cat!
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Meet Cat: Cat
was born and raised in Seattle and loves that the city continues to be her home. She comes to the HANC team with a commitment to advancing health equity based on her conviction that every person deserves the same chance to achieve wellbeing. Her educational and lived experience inform her commitment to diversity, inclusion, and representation. These commitments draw her to this work of improving representation and engagement of minorities and marginalized communities in HIV clinical research through HANC’s Legacy Project. Cat brings an interdisciplinary approach based on her education and experience in public health, community engagement, public policy, biology, and education in diverse communities in the US and in Tanzania. Cat holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy/Biology and a Master’s of Public Health in Global Health.
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Meet Murph: The
3 P's that make Murph Fuentes would be a playful obsession with their pit bull Honey, a passion for public health, and the pursuit to make things pretty! From Seattle, she earned her degree in Public Health from the University of Washington. Murph has worked for over a decade in clinical research in fields ranging from neurocognitive disorders to emergency medicine, but she has always felt the most at home working in HIV. The call to join HANC was loud and clear, and Murph is ecstatic to lend support in terms of logistics, communications, and marketing. By night Murph dabbles in graphic design, even maintaining a small side hustle combining her love of painting and furry creatures into commissioned pet portraits. Day or night, she is always willing to lend a hand or lend an ear - especially over a cup of coffee. Just be prepared for a Honey story or two.
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Join HANC in Recognizing the Following HIV/AIDS Awareness Days This Month
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March 10: National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
This year's NWGHAAD theme, "Prevention and Testing at Every Age. Care and Treatment at Every Stage," underscores the importance of enhancing prevention strategies.
Looking for resources and information about HIV and AIDS for women and girls? Visit the Office on Women’s Health HIV and AIDS web page or view the
NWGHAAD 2024 fact sheet.
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March 20: National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, first observed in 2007, is marked annually on the first day of Spring. The 2024 event will be on March 20th, with the theme “It’s all relative, our experience makes a difference.”
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HANC Stands in Solidarity: Addressing Anti-LGBTQIA+ Legislation
The Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination (HANC) stands in solidarity with our LGBTQIA+ family and colleagues around the world as we confront violent legislation that attacks our humanity.
We are concerned about the potential impact of this legislation on LGBTQIA+ research staff, participants, and communities. We are working closely with DAIDS and Network Leaders to monitor how these laws might impact the safety and operations of research conducted around the world.
Conducting research to develop safe and effective drugs, prevention strategies, and vaccines to end the global HIV epidemic involves combatting stigma, discrimination, homophobia, and transmisia on all fronts. HANC will continue to offer support to all our LGBTQIA+ colleagues, research sites, and communities. We stand shoulder to shoulder with all our colleagues in advocating for and upholding the human rights of all individuals.
We encourage you to reach out to HANC and let us know how we can offer support to staff, research participants, and communities impacted by these legislative developments.
Russell Campbell, HANC Director; Brian Minalga, HANC Deputy Director
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REPRIEVE Study Sheds Light on Liver Fat Buildup in People Living with HIV
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The REPRIEVE team recently published a study about the buildup of fat in the liver in people living with HIV. The study reviewed CT scans conducted at study entry and the investigators reported their findings in the journal AIDS. The investigative team was led by Jordan Lake, M.D., M. Sc., and Carl Fichtenbaum, M.D. Read the publication
here.
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ACTG Shares Conference Highlights at CROI 2024
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During the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) earlier this week, the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) shared updates on its conference activities; for highlights, visit the ACTG Facebook page
or other ACTG social media channels.
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HVTN Highlights HIV Vaccine Progress at CROI 2024
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Earlier this week, representatives HVTN participated in this year's Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). The table below showcases HVTN's contributions at the conference, underscoring the network's progress in HIV vaccine development.
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HVTN Full Group Meeting: Join In-Person or Virtually from May 1-3, 2024
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Preparations are currently in progress for the upcoming HVTN Full Group Meeting scheduled for May 1st-3rd at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C. We are excited to announce that virtual options will again be available for remote participation in the FGM.
Whether you plan to attend in person or virtually, we kindly request you to register at the following link: https://helpendhiv.wufoo.com/forms/s1uz9zzy1e77hv2/. Registration closes April 19, 2024. Active participation is crucial to the success of this event! We look forward to your involvement in making this meeting a valuable and collaborative experience.
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HPTN 112 Team Trains in Malawi for NJIRA Study Launch
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HPTN 112 study team members recently met for several training days at the UNC Project Malawi clinical research site in Lilongwe, Malawi, to prepare for the upcoming launch.
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The study, also known as NJIRA (Navigated Journey to Improve Reduction of HIV in African Men), will evaluate the potential benefit(s), acceptability, and associated costs of a system navigator-delivered HIV prevention intervention in promoting and supporting persistent use of evidence-based HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among heterosexual, cisgender men receiving care for sexually transmitted infections at the high-volume urban Bwaila STI Clinic in Lilongwe, Malawi.
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IMPAACT Seeks New Scientific Committee Members to Shape Research Priorities in Key Areas
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The IMPAACT Scientific Leadership Group in collaboration with the Chairs and Vice Chairs of the IMPAACT Scientific Committees are soliciting members to expand and revise research priorities and align expertise within each of the key research areas of the Network. The following IMPAACT Scientific Committees are soliciting applications for new members:
- Brain & Mental Health (previously, Complications and Comorbidities)
- Therapeutics (previously, HIV Treatment)
- Tuberculosis
A separate solicitation for the HIV Cure & Immunotherapy Scientific Committee (previously, HIV Cure) will be issued at a later date. IMPAACT Scientific Committees convene by conference call once a month to discuss priorities and plans, convening in person once or twice yearly, including during the annual network meeting. In addition to attending the conference calls, members are expected to review proposed study concept sheets with the committee periodically.
For more information and application instructions, please visit the IMPAACT website. The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 22, 2024.
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IMPAACT News from CROI 2024
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We are delighted to share findings from IMPAACT P1115 and IMPAACT 2017 (MOCHA) presented at the 2024 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), held from 3 to 6 March 2024 in Denver, Colorado! Read more here
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Behavioral and Social Sciences
Greg Davis, HANC Project Manager
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Behavioral Science Consultative Group: The Behavioral Science Consultative Group has set a date for a face-to-face meeting in Seattle, WA on August 2, 2024. The meeting will be held on Fred Hutch campus.
Financial Disclosure Working Group: The Financial Disclosure WG will hold its first meeting of 2024 in February. The group will discuss the timeline for the 2024 solicitation.
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Community Coordination
Greg Davis
HANC Project Manager
Russell Campbell
HANC Director
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Community Partners: Community Partners has determined the dates for its 2024 face-to-face meeting. CP will gather in Crystal City, VA on September 19 and 20, 2024. Invites will likely be shared with Community Partners members in the next couple weeks. CP is also having an election for two new Strategic Working Group (SWG) representatives. The election runs through Wednesday, March 6 and an announcement will be made on March 8.
TB Vaccine Community Engagement Strategy WG: The TB Vaccine Community Engagement Strategy WG held the webinar, TB Vax 101, presented by Mike Frick on February 22. You can view the webinar here
. The group also released two important resources during the webinar: 1) the Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for TB Research and 2) TB Prevention Toolbox graphic. Both of these items can be found here under TB Resources for Communities.
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Cross-Network Coordination
Kathleen Pescasio, HANC Cross-Network Project Manager
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The Cross-Network Site Coordinators Working Group (SCWG) discussed recent experiences with monitoring visits and shared feedback on the SCORE Manual. The SCWG is also having discussions on how to identify and address site-level issues. The group completed the CRS Coordinator Onboarding Checklist, which can be accessed on the HANC website.
The Cross-Network Data Management Center Working Group (DMCWG) continues to discuss recent experiences with changes to survey software tools and study enrollment systems.
The Subject Matter Research Consultants Working Group (SMRCWG) continues to discuss potential compensation models for community members who serve on protocol teams, scientific sub-committees, and special leadership positions.
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Laboratory Coordination
Tyler Brown, HANC Laboratory Project Manager
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In February, the Laboratory Technologists SOP Working Group held a meeting with representatives from DAIDS and the CPQA program to discuss and draft guidelines for pharmacokinetic processing in laboratories participating in ACTG and IMPAACT protocols.
In February, the Lab Focus Group (LFG) met to discuss storage requirements for Trial Master File (TMF) materials and the upcoming review of the Cross-Network PBMC Processing SOP. Also in February, the LFG released an updated version of the
Primary Network Laboratory Assignments List.
Reminder: In December, the Lab Technologists SOP Working Group published three new documents (listed below), now available for download in the Specimen Shipping section of the
ACTG/IMPAACT Laboratory Manual page on the HANC Public website.
+ ACTG/IMPAACT Guidelines for Shipping & Receiving Biological Substance - Category B Specimens
+ ACTG/IMPAACT Specimen Shipment Notice
+ ACTG/IMPAACT Shipment Checklist
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The Legacy Project
Brian Minalga, HANC Deputy Director
Gabriella Olague, HANC Project Coordinator
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March 2-6: Brian Minalga is representing HANC at CROI 2024 in Denver, CO, including at the Pre-CROI Community HIV Cure Workshop on March 2nd. Not attending CROI? You can still follow Brian’s coverage of the conference on HIV.gov! Keep an eye out for the
return of Miss Molly Moon too.
March 11: Welcome HANC’s new Legacy Project Manager, Cat Banobi!
March 27: The WHRC is hosting a webinar in honor of NWGHAAD and Women’s History Month! Stay tuned for official registration soon!
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Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit (Seattle, USA)
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HVTN Annual Network Meeting (Washington DC, USA)
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ACTG Annual Network Meeting (Washington DC, USA)
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HPTN Annual Network Meeting (Washington DC, USA)
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IMPAACT Annual Network Meeting (Arlington, USA)
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