Workshop on Opportunities for Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) Collaborations
The Penn CFAR and the PDPH Division of HIV Health have established a strong research partnership to answer questions of high priority to the City of Philadelphia regarding HIV prevention, treatment, engagement in care, and other topics advancing the goals of Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) in Philadelphia. Many of these projects have led to significant independent funding, impactful publications, and have also transformed local policy and implementation.
Investigators have included researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, Nursing School, School of Social Policy and Practice, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and other campus groups. PDPH partners bring expertise in implementation, policy, epidemiology, understanding of key knowledge gaps that need innovative research to advance both local programs and generalizable advances, and the opportunity to work with data at a level often not available to academic researchers.
The CFAR is hosting a workshop on March 17, 2026, to bring together PDPH staff members with investigators across the CFAR campus who may not yet be familiar with this partnership and opportunities for high-impact collaborative research.
Workshop Goals
The workshop will:
- Showcase past and ongoing projects to illustrate opportunities and impact
- Describe resources available at PDPH including specific expertise, available datasets, linkage to other City or community agencies
- Spotlight CFAR resources that may be particularly useful to investigators new to HIV/AIDS
- Identify key knowledge gaps and research needs essential to improve implementation and programs
The program will conclude with breakout working groups to help develop potential collaborative research initiatives.
Priority Research Areas
While the workshop will span a broad range of topics, it aims to catalyze studies in three areas of particular priority for PDPH:
- Implementation Science: Improving uptake and implementation of long-acting injectable anti-retroviral treatment and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
- Cost-Effectiveness Research: Understanding costs versus health outcomes of different interventions to guide City HIV/AIDS programs
- Target Trial Emulation Studies: Hypothetical randomized controlled trials linked to observational PDPH data to drive selection of intervention approaches
We especially encourage campus investigators who have not previously worked with PDPH or the CFAR to participate, to learn about these resources and opportunities. For investigators new to the field, CFAR provides key resources including HIV content expertise.
Event Details
📍 Reunion Auditorium, John Morgan Building
🕣 8:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
📅 Wednesday, March 17, 2026
For questions, please contact Hervette Nkwihoreze at Hervette.Nkwihoreze@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu.