U.S. Researchers Receive $10 Million to Study Alcohol and HIV

Researchers from Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health, the Boston Medical Center, the University of California at San Francisco, and the University of Pittsburgh have been awarded $10 million to study the intersection between alcohol and people living with HIV/AIDS. The grant, which was awarded from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), will fund the Uganda Russia Boston Alcohol Network for Alcohol Research Collaboration on HIV/AIDS (URBAN ARCH) in hopes of answering questions about how alcohol use affects HIV and how other medical treatments might alleviate alcohol-related troubles.

Boston University stated in a press release:

The Consortium studies will build on three existing HIV-infected cohorts from Boston, Uganda, and Russia with distinctive strengths and well-characterized alcohol consumption patterns. The two international cohorts allow study of clinical issues that would not be possible in the United States, yet have important implications for US HIV-infected populations.

According [to Consortium principal investigator Jeffrey] Samet, [MD, MA, MPH, professor of medicine at BUSM and chief of the section of internal medicine at BMC], during the four decades of the HIV epidemic, many questions remain about how alcohol use affects HIV clinical manifestations and how approaches beyond antiretroviral treatments might mitigate alcohol-related harms. "Such questions about the complex relationship between HIV and alcohol need to be addressed in order to accelerate the development of more effective treatments," said Samet.

"By utilizing distinctive cohorts in the United States and abroad, the Consortium will be uniquely positioned to provide insights about the relationship of alcohol and HIV infection to improve clinical and public health outcomes for the associated consequences," he added.

Kellee Terrell is the former news editor for TheBody.com and TheBodyPRO.com.

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