13th Annual National CFAR Conference

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Location:

121 4th Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37201

The iCHARM (inter-CFAR AIDS-Related Malignancy) Working Group will meet to discuss inter-CFAR collaborations in basic, clinical, translational, and epidemiologic research in the area of AIDS-related malignancies. The iCharm Working Group first met in Birmingham in 2006 that led to support ($550,000) from NCI for the iCHARM Developmental Grants Program that was offered in FY 08 to all CFARs and their affiliated NCI-designated Cancer Centers. In FY 09 and FY 10, NCI-sponsored RFAs for supplemental funds were available to CFARs and/or NCI-designated Cancer Centers in AIDS-related malignancy research. Both Geraldina Dominguez and Kishor Bhatia of the NCI AIDS Malignancy Branch will be in attendance. We look forward to having each CFAR represented. All attendees are welcome to attend the National CFAR Scientific Symposium at Vanderbilt University on November 5.

GOALS

Our goals for the Nashville meeting will be to consider: 1) how CFARs can pool their expertise, resources, and infrastructures to address domestic and international research themes and funding opportunities for AIDS-related malignancies; 2) collaborative models for research and training at international sites; and 3) steps that can be taken to develop collaborative activities between CFARs and Cancer Centers. The meeting will also review accomplishments of the iCHARM and CFAR/Cancer Center supplemental grant RFAs.

TARGET GROUP

This program is designed for any Research Investigator interested in HIV and malignancies research.

We request that each CFAR send 1 - 2 individuals to participate in this important brainstorming session. While travel money is not currently available, we hope that your CFAR will be able to support the attendance of at least one representative. We are pursuing the possibility of obtaining at least partial support for participants as part of the NIH-support for the National Meeting.