Overview

The Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR) is seeking pilot project applications focused on secondary analysis of datasets in the fields of HIV, HCV, substance use, and the continuum of prevention and care in these topical areas. The Pilot Projects Award provides the opportunity for investigators to work with project PIs and their research team and potentially develop new lines of inquiry with the long-term goal of securing subsequent external funding.

The mission of CDUHR is to end the HIV and HCV epidemics in drug using populations and their communities by conducting transdisciplinary research and disseminating its findings to inform programmatic, policy, and grassroots initiatives at the local, state, national and global levels. CDUHR accomplishes this mission through a “core infrastructure” designed to develop and enhance research with the following objectives:

• Devise innovative strategies to overcome barriers to ending HIV/AIDS among people who use drugs (PWUD)
• Conduct research to reveal effective ways to implement evidence-based practices that will advance the goal of ending HIV/AIDS among PWUD
• Develop multilevel conceptual models of HIV/AIDS among PWUD to guide intervention and other research that will reduce new HIV infections, and increase the proportion of individuals living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy and virally suppressed, or at-risk of HIV infection and on PrEP

Awards of up to $15,000 will be distributed to support pilot projects.

As part of CDUHR’s mentorship program, pilot project awardees and other interested applicants are encouraged to receive mentoring and are matched with at least two senior investigators for mentorship, both within and outside of the grantee’s discipline to foster a broad transdisciplinary perspective to their research. New and early-stage investigators, and applicants currently collaborating with senior investigators are eligible to apply. Senior investigators seeking to develop new expertise or embark on research in areas related to CDUHR’s mission are also eligible to apply. Priority for funding is given to new and early-stage investigators.

Below is a list of datasets and dataset repositories. If there are other publicly accessible datasets that you would like to use that are not listed below, please contact us (CDUHR.pilot@nyu.edu) with information about the dataset before submitting a full application.

Datasets

• National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)
• National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
• Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)

Dataset repositories

• NIDA Date Share. This includes data from the NIDA Clinical Trials Network
• The HEAL Data Ecosystem
• Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
• National Addiction & HIV Data Archive Program
• National Center for Health Statistics
• CDC Wonder
• Qualitative Data Repository

Individual CDUHR-Affiliated Investigator Projects

Ellen Benoit (e.benoit@njcri.org)

Name of Dataset: Community Wise: An Innovative Multi-level Intervention to Reduce Alcohol and Illegal Drug Use (MPIs: Ellen Benoit and Lili Windsor)

Brief summary: The Community Wise optimization study employed the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) to identify the most effective version of an intervention grounded in critical consciousness theory to reduce substance use. 602 participants were randomized to one of 16 intervention conditions using a 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 full factorial design. The optimized intervention includes three components focused on critical reflection and critical action, delivered in weekly group sessions by a peer facilitator.

Don Des Jarlais

Risk Factors for AIDS Among Intravenous Drug Users Study, New York City, 1991-1995 (ICPSR 36215)

Risk Factors for AIDS Among Intravenous Drug Users Study, New York City, 1991-1995 [Restricted] (ICPSR 35078)

Kelly Doran (Kelly.Doran@nyulangone.org)

Note: To work with the data, the applicant must be at the NYU School of Medicine (SOM) or amenable to becoming sponsored at NYU SOM to be added to the IRB.

Name of dataset: Permanent Supportive Housing Overdose Prevention Study – Qualitative Interview and Survey Data

Brief summary: Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) is an evidence-based intervention for people experiencing chronic patterns of homelessness and concomitant health needs (including addiction and mental illness), with multiple randomized controlled trials supporting its effectiveness in more rapidly and durably resolving an individual’s homelessness compared to usual care. Overdose is of high concern in PSH because individual risk factors intersect with environmental risk factors, including risks of unwitnessed fatal overdose in private apartments; approximately 10% of all overdose deaths in NYC occur in PSH, according to the city’s most recent data. The PSH Overdose Prevention Study has enrolled 20 PSH buildings across NYC and NY’s Capital Region, serving over 1,200 PSH tenants. These buildings are receiving a technical assistance intervention from the Corporation for Supportive Housing to help them durably implement new overdose prevention practices. Data available to investigators who join our study team include: 1) baseline surveys from PSH staff (n≈325 staff, response rate approximately 63%); 2) baseline surveys of PSH tenants (n≈1200 tenants, response rate approximately 54%); 3) log of intervention activities, including fidelity to the intervention and narrative reports of intervention session content; 4) transcripts of qualitative interviews conducted with approximately 30 PSH staff and tenants involved with the intervention (includes templated summaries and coded transcripts).

The study – including the content of surveys and qualitative interview questions – is described in detail here: https://implementationscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13012-023-01278-z.

Sam Friedman

The Community Vulnerability and Responses to Drug-User-Related HIV/AIDS, 1990-2013 [96 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, United States] (ICPSR 36575)

Transmission Reduction Intervention Project (TRIP), Athens, Greece Site, 2013-2015 (ICPSR 39059)

The Pilot Projects Program is an open competition to investigators and potential investigators who have obtained a doctoral level degree.

While senior investigators and applicants not seeking mentoring are eligible to apply, applicants representative of the following groups are particularly encouraged and will be prioritized:

• New and early-stage investigators
• Established investigators without prior experience in HIV, HCV and substance use research
• Established investigators who are pursuing a new area of inquiry within the fields of HIV, HCV and substance use research

Pilot projects funds may not be used to supplement or prolong ongoing research, to support dissertation research or coursework, or to purchase equipment, and cannot be used as bridge funds when other research support is no longer available.

• One of your mentors must be a CDUHR Core Member (https://cduhr.org/about/leadership).
• If you are proposing secondary analysis with individual projects such as those listed above, a letter from the project’s PI must be included that they will provide project data and the role they will serve on the pilot project. Include the statement: If the pilot project is funded, the pilot project PI and project PI will create a data use agreement specifying how the data will be used.
• Final invoices must be submitted by August 15, 2026.
• Funds may not be spent outside the United States.
• Before submitting your application, please confirm with your institution that they will accept a CDUHR pilot project grant award with no indirect costs (IDC)/F&A.
• Pilot project recipients will be required to attend meetings with CDUHR core members throughout the award period.

Funding decisions will be based on the following criteria:

• Relation of proposed research to CDUHR’s thematic focus of overcoming barriers to ending HIV/AIDS among PWUD.
• The extent to which the research falls within the high priority topics in the NIH Strategic Plan for HIV and HIV-Related Research.
• Scientific quality of the proposed research.
• Innovativeness and significance of the research idea.
• Likelihood of research findings to translate into practice and/or result in meaningful public health impact.
• Potential of the project to enhance the training of the investigator.
• Potential of research findings to lead to subsequent funding.

Additional consideration will also be given to applicants who are new and early-stage investigators, established investigators without prior experience in substance use and HIV or HCV research, or who are exploring a new area of inquiry in the field.

Note that NIDA requires CDUHR to provide a description and justification of all pilot projects before initiating them. Notification includes a description and rationale for the project, and addressing the question of how it falls within CDUHR’s mission. In addition, CDUHR must state that the project will comply with NIH policies, including IRB approval of human subject research, when necessary.