Spotlight: Center for AIDS and STD (CFAS) Community Advisory Board

One of the missions of the Center for AIDS and STD is to promote awareness of CFAS research activities and the importance of AIDS research through community outreach. Therefore, in 2005, the Center for AIDS and STD (CFAS) began the process of setting up a new Community Advisory Board (CAB) that would strengthen the linkages between CFAS and the communities that it serves. Dr. Freya Spielberg, from the Center for AIDS Research Sociobehavioral Prevention Research Core (SPRC), chaired the planning committee for the new CAB.

The planning process for the new Community Advisory Board (CAB) culminated in a series of planning meetings with potential CAB representatives from community-based organizations, public health, HIV/STI service providers, as well as researchers and staff from the Center for AIDS and STD (CFAS). These meetings provided great feedback on potential roles and activities for the new Community Advisory Board, as well as ideas for its structure and mission.

Based on input received at the initial planning meetings, the Mission Statement for the new Community Advisory Board was revised as follows.

The mission of the UW Center for AIDS and STD (CFAS) Community Advisory Board is to build reliable and responsible collaborations and encourage communication between CFAS researchers, community members, and community-based organizations to enhance local, national, and international prevention, treatment, and education activities.

Specific initial goals of the Community Advisory Board are:

Prioritizing Center for AIDS and STD service to communities by providing input on important research topics that are relevant to the community, identifying opportunities for community engagement, and ensuring that educational outcomes are shared with the community.

Making HIV/STD research more transparent and useful by engaging community organizations and advisory board members to help develop improved and targeted information dissemination of research results and implications.

Expanding connections between the Center for AIDS and STD researchers, affiliates, and local community organizations to identify areas of mutual concern, explore opportunities for collaboration, and pursue joint activities.

Integrating the suggestions made by planning meeting participants, the Community Advisory Board will consist of a Founding Committee to give continuity and accountability, and a set of flexible focused Working Groups to take on specific tasks. The Founding Committee will be charged with prioritizing the activities and ideas generated from the planning meetings, setting up the Working Groups, as well as participating in the strategic planning during the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) grant renewal process. The initial Founding Committee will be co-chaired by Steve Wakefield, from the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), and Tina Podlodowski, Executive Director of Lifelong AIDS Alliance.

The initial activities and working groups will focus on the following priorities: (1) outreach—getting the research findings out to our local community in a practical, interesting, and meaningful way; (2) partnership—identifying needs and mechanisms to support joint community-research projects; and (3) action—targeted prevention activities and/or services for local groups.

If you would like more information, or would like to get involved in the Community Advisory Board, please contact Jennifer Foster, PhD, SPRC Research Coordinator, at either (206) 731-3667 or fosterjl@u.washington.edu. You can also find more information at http://csde.washington.edu/sprc/who/cab.shtml.