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NIH grant 1P30MH140479-01A1: University of Washington Behavioral Innovation Research Center for HIV
Institute: {'code': 'MH', 'abbreviation': 'NIMH', 'name': 'National Institute of Mental Health', 'admin_org_id': '12500050', 'admin_funding_url': ''}. PI: Susan Marie Graham. Award: $1500000.
Start: 2026-09-18T00:00:00.
OVERALL ABSTRACT
The goal of this application is to transition the University of Washington (UW) Behavioral Innovation Research
Center for HIV (BIRCH) from a Developmental to a Full NIMH-funded AIDS Research Center (ARC).
Accomplishments during our D-ARC period include steady increase in BIRCH membership, meaningful
collaborations with community partners, continual growth of externally funded research, successful competition
for End the HIV Epidemic supplements, support of annual pilot awards, and outstanding early return on
investment from mentoring our junior faculty. As we prepared this renewal application, we reinvigorated our
strategic planning process, added new faculty members, strengthened services and synergies across Cores and
with the UW/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research, and centered our community engagement activities. Our
mission statement for this application is “to catalyze multi-disciplinary research on innovative and impactful
interventions to improve behavioral health and HIV outcomes among people living with or vulnerable to
HIV.” The significant mental health (MH)-related HIV challenges among vulnerable populations in our region and
globally, combined with the UW’s strengths in public health, psychiatry, behavioral sciences, primary care in
underserved and rural settings, and global health make the UW an ideal setting to establish an innovation hub
to provide critical services to HIV/MH researchers. The proposed BIRCH mission, organization, and Core
services arise from our iterative growth as a D-ARC, which has led to an effective, well-functioning Center.
Ongoing strategic planning incorporates guidance from our Community Action Group (CAG), our Local and
US/Global Scientific Advisory Boards (SABs), BIRCH members and other collaborators. The Administrative
Core provides leadership, directs strategic planning, coordinates cross-Core activities, convenes our CAG and
SABs, and promotes collaborations with community partners. The Developmental Core awards pilot funding,
mentors early-stage investigators and investigators new to HIV/MH research and provides capacity-building for
our community partners. The Methods Core provides consultations on theory-informed research design and
quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches, adding new focus on community engagement,
translational and implementation science, and social determinants and syndemics. The Integrated Care Core
provides expertise and services to conduct research promoting integration of MH and other behavioral health
services into HIV prevention and care and support community-engaged research to increase access to MH
interventions. The Healthy Aging with HIV Core, our new core, will provide expertise and research services
related to MH interventions to improve HIV outcomes and quality of life of older people with HIV, a growing
population that faces challenges related to social stressors and physical comorbidities. Building from our
impressive D-ARC accomplishments, BIRCH is poised to make a unique contribution as a NIMH ARC focused
on interventions that have measurable impact on HIV outcomes locally, regionally, nationally and globally.document fetched 2026-09-27 02:45