Clinical Sciences Core

The Miami CFAR Clinical Sciences Core provides unique clinical resources and scientific leadership for the largest network of HIV investigators in South Florida and promotes high impact HIV translational and multidisciplinary research through partnerships with clinical, socio-behavioral, and basic scientists. The Clinical Core supports HIV research in adults through fully equipped research units and mobile programs:

• The University of Miami Infectious Diseases Unit at Converge Miami. Opened in 2010, the six-story building has 252,000 sq ft of flexible, modular wet laboratories and prep rooms, and houses the University of Miami’s tissue bank, the HIV/AIDS and Emerging Infectious Diseases Institute (HEIDI), the Biomedical Nanotechnology Institute, the UInnovation offices, made up of UM Technology Transfer and Wallace H. Coulter Center for Translational Research offices, and numerous commercial tenants. Dr. Alcaide and her team have fully equipped offices located on the second floor of Converge, and there is ongoing institutional commitment to continue to expand this state-of-the-art infectious diseases/HIV research unit. The unit is adjacent to a new HIV clinic, and contains interview and examination rooms, a pharmacy, a laboratory, and is on the same floor as the CFAR laboratory and freezer space. Currently, clinical research space on the 1st floor has been allocated to the Division of Infectious Diseases to conduct clinical research as the new research unit is expanding. This includes 1 reception, 2 fully equipped examine rooms, 1 research laboratory, 1 research pharmacy, 1 observation space with 2 chairs for infusion of study medications. The UM HIV prevention clinic is located on the 4th floor of the building. 

• The University of Miami Infectious Diseases Research Unit located at Jackson Memorial Hospital is located adjacent to the Special Immunology Clinic the largest outpatient clinic for people with HIV in Florida. This exceptional location allows efficient clinic recruitment and enrollment into diverse research projects supporting a myriad of investigators at different career stages, and links potential participants to ongoing cohort studies and clinical trials in all the disciplines of HIV research.

• The PrEP mobile service is a fully equipped mobile clinic and the Rapid Access Wellness Clinic is located at the University of Miami Health System. Both services offer initial and follow-up appointments and community enrollment into HIV prevention studies.

• Pediatric HIV treatment and prevention research studies are conducted by International Maternal, Pediatric, Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Network Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) team centered in the Bachelor Children’s Pediatric Institute and funded by NIAID. The Miami Pediatric CTU at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine has been funded continuously for almost three decades with an outstanding record of performing numerous clinical trials investigating long-term complications of new antiretrovirals for pediatric and adolescent populations affected by HIV and perinatal intervention studies aimed at prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

The Clinical Sciences Core supports the goals of the Miami CFAR through the following aims:

1. Provide state-of-the-art facilities for implementation of clinical and translational studies including support for clinical assessments, collection of biological samples, and access to data.
2. Provide research design methodology and technical assistance to meet regulatory standards in research involving human subjects, human data, and biological specimens; and to facilitate training/education of investigators in clinical research.
3. Provide research design and biostatistical support through the CFAR Biostatistics Sub-core of the Biostatistics Collaboration and Consulting Core.

Below are some of the high impact research studies conducted at the Clinical Sciences Core:

1. MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort (MWCCS) Study
2. Study of Treatment And Reproductive outcomes (STAR)
3. CFAR Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS)

For more information about on-going research at the University of Miami please visit the UMiami Health Research website