Network Coordination
The 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. Information about coordinated network activities can be found at www.hanc.info.
The Strategic Working Group (SWG)
The Strategic Working Group (SWG) provides expert advice on the scientific priorities of the NIAID-funded HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Networks. Specifically, the SWG serves as a forum for discussion, resolution, and proactive planning of critical issues; provides guidance on scientific priorities for future high resource trials, provides input about budget allocation for future funding of the networks and sites, and facilitates communication among all stakeholders relevant to the NIAID-sponsored HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Networks. The SWG meets two to three times a year, and members include the network principal investigators, NIAID-appointed external advisors, representatives from the Community Partners, and the director of DAIDS.
The Community Partners (CP)
The Community Partners (CP) is a group established to promote effective representation of and timely communication among the many communities, in the U.S. and internationally, that work with and participate in the NIAID-funded HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Networks. The Community Partners is comprised of representatives from each of the NIAID networks community groups, including the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG), the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials group (IMPAACT), the International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT), and the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN); staff from each of these networks and DAIDS will also participate as non-voting participants. Responsibilities of the Community Partners include enhancing intra- and inter-network community input at all levels, identifying and developing programs to meet the training and support requirements of local 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.
Community Partners recently developed Recommendations for Community Involvement in National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Research with an Executive Summary. The recommendations are intended to help community representatives and researchers working within NIAID’s clinical trials networks build more effective partnerships. In order to help harmonize and guide this effort across the networks, Community Partners identified key roles and responsibilities of site and network community advisory boards (CABs) and of those working with the CABs, namely – researchers and research staff, and Division of AIDS (DAIDS).
A Spanish language Executive Summary (PDF, 495 KB) is also available.
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