Accelerating Public Health Impact Through the University of Washington/NASTAD Research Alliance in Implementation Science to End HIV (RAISE) Regional Consultative Hub

The Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) Initiative has an ambitious goal of a 75% reduction in new HIV infections in the US by 2025, and a 90% reduction by 2030. To meet these targets, progress will be required across all four EHE pillars (diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and response), and across all 57 Phase I EHE jurisdictions. Implementation science, with a focus on improving the delivery of evidence-based interventions at scale, has the potential to catalyze EHE investments by identifying how to deliver interventions and contribute to the EHE targets. The Research Alliance in Implementation Science to End HIV (RAISE) Regional Consultative Hub (RCH) was founded in 2022 with supplemental EHE funding to the University of Washington/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research with the objective of maximizing the impact EHE investments through the support of EHE-funded implementation science efforts in priority jurisdictions. Our application leverages the depth and breadth of implementation science capabilities and training opportunities at the University of Washington and the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD). The RAISE team is ideally situated to continue to link implementation science research with public health programs to enhance the impact of EHE. Our faculty is at the forefront in defining multidisciplinary, implementation science research methods, and has developed novel training curricula in public health and implementation science. Furthermore, RAISE-affiliated investigators lead diverse programs to implement and scale-up HIV prevention and treatment interventions that have developed strong, collaborative relationships with health departments throughout the U.S. Our proposed activities are designed to enhance the impact of EHE investments through building timely and appropriate implementation science capacity, fostering academic-public health collaborations, developing generalizable knowledge on effective implementation strategies, and meeting EHE reporting requirements. The RAISE hub proposes three aims to achieve the project goals. First, to provide implementation science consultation services to select NIH- supported EHE research projects and support these projects to meet funding reporting requirements, develop effective dissemination strategies, and foster cross-site research opportunities. This aim will leverage our implementation science expertise and existing training curricula in study designs; selection and development of implementation strategies; implementation science theories, models and frameworks; implementation outcome selection and deployment; economic evaluations; and health department/academic research partnership development. Second, in conjunction with NASTAD, to strengthen and expand the RAISE implementation science learning platform that links health departments with implementation researchers to foster relevant and robust research that is responsive to health department needs and enhances the impact of their implementation efforts. Third, also in conjunction with NASTAD, foster improved implementation of local HIV treatment services in EHE jurisdictions through the establishment of two 18-month learning collaboratives. Project Number: 1R24AI191820-01 | Fiscal Year: 2025 | NIH Institute/Center: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) | Principal Investigator: Kenneth Sherr | Institution: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE, WA | Award Amount: $623,243 | Activity Code: R24 | Study Section: Special Emphasis Panel[ZAI1 SPJ-A (J1)] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/1R24AI19182001