The University of North Carolina Center for AIDS Research

NC PIE Abstract
The UNC CFAR, a consortium comprising UNC Chapel Hill, Research Triangle Institute (RTI)
and Family Health International (FHI), has actively partnered with the North Carolina (NC)
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) since its inception 27 years ago. CFAR
outreach has focused primarily on four NC HBCUs (Winston-Salem State University [WSSU],
NC A & T State University [NC A&T], NC Central University [NCCU], St. Augustine University
[SAU]). Our outreach is based on the basic tenet that to achieve equity in HIV research and
care we must ensure greater representation of communities of color in the relevant scientific
and medical disciplines.
Engagement of these HBCUs has been multilayered and includes: providing developmental
awards to HBCU faculty; facilitating HBCU and underrepresented community engagement at
the regional and national level by sponsoring attendance at national meetings; funding and
conducting workshops in research writing for HBCU faculty; offering access to academic
journals at the UNC library system by making HBCU faculty UNC affiliates.
In 2021, with funding made available from the initial CFAR Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Pipeline Initiative we established the NC Program for Inclusive Excellence (NC PIE), a yearlong
paid internship for graduate and undergraduate students with two partner HBCUs-NCA&T and
NCCU. NC-PIE, refunded in 2022 and 2023, has enrolled 10 interns to-date, six of whom have
completed the internship. Of these six interns, three intend to apply to medical school, one to a
physician associate program, one to a masters of public health program and one is completing
her doctoral program and working at UNC for the NC Translational and Clinical Sciences
Institute.
In this application we propose to 1) Continue with NC-PIE and increase number of interns from
3 to 4. 2) Add a new immersive on-campus 10 week summer research program by partnering
with the UNC Department of Microbiology and Immunology 3) Introduce NCCU undergraduate
students to infectious diseases specifically HIV by developing and implementing a six part
lecture series as part of the Public Health curriculum.