Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University are working together to expand HIV research in the state of Tennessee under a $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The HBCU and majority White university have collaborated before on HIV research, but this five-year grant includes the Tennessee Department of Health as a full partner, a move that does not often happen in grant-funded initiatives. While two agencies may collaborate on a project, the health department is usually not a part of the study.
“We have been working together for a number of years but this grant will allow us to expand what we are doing,” said Dr. Duane Smoot, co-director of the newly funded Tennessee Center for AIDS Research.
The numbers of people infected with HIV are growing slowly, and college campuses reflect that, Smoot said.
“There’s more casual sex, and some people don’t realize that their partner may not be 100 percent heterosexual,” he said.
He said while most infected are young men, they are seeing more young women in the clinics as well.
