Kudos to Affiliates of NC TraCS

Carey appointed as new co-chair of the CTSA Key Function Committee

NC TraCS PI extender Tim Carey, M.D., M.P.H., was recently picked to co-chair the CTSA Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) Key Function Committee (KFC). Carey is a Sarah Graham Kenan Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Social Medicine and director of the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at UNC-Chapel Hill.

In his new role, he will help the committee build the field of comparative effectiveness research and patient-centered outcomes research by creating a learning community across all 60 CTSA institutions, spur the development of methods, expanding training and education, promote community and public engagement, apply CER findings and share successes and lessons learned.

Cohen receives award for contributions to improving HIV care

NC TraCS member Myron Cohen, M.D., J. Herbert Bate Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and Public Health, has received the GAIA Vaccine Foundation’s 2011 Hope is a Vaccine Award.

The award, which is given to individuals for their commitment to the fight against AIDS and their contributions to improving HIV care in marginal populations, was announced on December 1, which is recognized globally as World AIDS Day.

Cohen was given the Hope is a Vaccine award for his dedication to providing a scientific foundation for the Treatment as Prevention concept. Cohen is principal investigator of a landmark study, HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 052, which showed that treating HIV-infected individuals with antiretrovirals early led to a 96 percent reduction in transmission to their uninfected partners.

Cohen is also associate vice chancellor for global health, chief of infectious disease medicine, and director of the UNC Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases.

From UNC Health Care News.

Yi secures two new grants to study diabetic nephropathy

NC TraCS member Xianwen Yi, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, has recently been awarded grants from the Diabetes Complications Consortium and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to continue his research into the role of antioxidants in preventing and treating diabetic nephropathy.

Diabetic nephropathy is the single largest cause of end-stage renal disease in the United States and thus imposes a significant societal and economic burden. Using a set of unique genetic mouse models as a tool, Yi hopes to gain better understanding of the role of oxidative stress in the development of diabetic nephropathy and to develop novel antioxidant therapeutic interventions for diabetic nephropathy patients.

In preparing his grant submissions, Yi consulted NC TraCS Research Navigator Paul Farel, Ph.D., a professor of cell and molecular physiology at UNC. Farel worked with Yi both in person and over the phone to strengthen the translational significance of his proposed projects and streamline his specific aims.