Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination (HANC)
The Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination (HANC) works with NIAID and the HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Networks to facilitate collaboration and coordination on priority areas of research and operations, increase communication, and streamline processes to improve research efficiency. In addition to coordinating the efforts of the leadership principal investigators, inter-network coordination encompasses, among other areas, statistical and data management, laboratory, training, evaluation, clinical trials logistics, and community participation and education. Find out more about coordinated network activities.
Community Partners (CP)
Community Partners (CP) is a group established to promote effective representation of and timely communication among the many communities, in the United States and internationally, that work with and participate in the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Networks. The CP is comprised of representatives from each of the NIH-funded networks’ community groups, including the Advancing Clinical Therapeutics Globally for HIV/AIDS and Other Infections (ACTG), the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, the HIV Prevention Trials Network, the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials group, and the Microbicide Trials Network. Staff from each of these networks and DAIDS also participate as non-voting participants. Responsibilities of the CP include enhancing intra- and inter-network community input at all levels of the research organization, identifying and developing programs to meet the training and support requirements of community advisory boards; increasing the representation and participation of community representatives from resource-limited settings; and identifying and addressing challenges and concerns to participation in clinical trials.
The CP recently updated the Recommendations for Community Engagement in HIV/AIDS Research (Spanish). The recommendations are intended to help community representatives and researchers work together to build and strengthen partnership and community engagement efforts. In order to help harmonize and guide this effort across the networks, CP identified key roles and responsibilities of site and network community advisory boards and the research staff working with the community.