WEEKLYPRESS.COM · UCREVIEW.COM · NOVEMBER 07 2012 3 Center for AIDS Research at UPENN


Nathaniel Lee Special Press/Review


W


ith its offices at 35th & Market, the Center for Aids


Research’s (CFAR) Com- munity Advisory (CAB) has helped members of the Philadelphia community connect with the work done by researchers in the area of HIV/AIDS.


Since its discovery in 1981, HIV/AIDS have been the focus of much research as scientists scramble to find new treatments and an eventual cure.


Leading that charge have been the CFAR University of Pennsylvania, Children’s Hospital and Wistar In- stitute whose researchers have helped provide key research. The CFAR-CAB helps bring this research to the people for review, awareness and consider- ation. Tiffany Dominique is the


group’s coordinator who de- scribes herself as the liaison between the community and the university. While the CFAR researchers have had


great success in the discov- ery of new drugs, research of vaccines and making promising discoveries, little is known about the groups’ advisory board.


“The community advi- sory board has equally as much success as the CFAR and has really led the way in terms of how community advisory boards are viewed and what the standards should be,” says Domi- nique. “They really are the voice of the community.” In fact, Dominique says that it is the community that dictates how research is done in their communi- ties and offer suggestions to both researchers and medi- cal.


“We’ve had things like ‘the meeting of the minds’ where we have had re- searchers come and get feedback from communities and really disseminating information so that it is not just in some paper that other scientists read but [avail- able] at a community level,” says Dominique. Such efforts of the CFAR- CAB include outreach to


they are begging and want- ing people to come talk to them and the Community Advisory Board recognizes that,” says Dominique. She cites the discussions among AIDs activists, re- searchers and counselors about the growing rise of African American women affected with the disease as an example.


Tiffany Dominique is the group’s coordinator


local groups, organizations as well as faith-based insti- tutions. This helps to hold researchers accountable, says Dominique. Researchers get to share with the community those things which it feels will help address the problem and the communities, in return, get to monitor how those suggestions are imple- mented and what benefits are actually derived from them.


“These are people who


really hold their [research- ers] feet to the fire and say ‘I want to see how what


you’re doing and how it really is arresting the epi- demic in Philadelphia and in the country and in the world,” says Dominique. Dominique has worked with the CFAR since 2006 and says that it’s the peo- ple on the advisory board she enjoys most about her job and which makes the groups so affective.


“The people we have on our community advisory board wear many hats so they are doing the work of the CFAR-CAB and also doing the work of many AIDS service organiza- tions around the city,” says Dominique.


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In fact, Dominique be- lieves that no other city can compare to the advi- sory board here in Phila- delphia.


“The other thing is that they really take on a mentoring role,” says Dominique who says that the prominence of the University of Pennsylvania has given it a special place among researchers and members of the CAB has taken on the responsibility of connecting with other advisory boards around the nation to share best practices.


“It’s not one-size fit-all but maybe they can take a little piece of what we do and we can work with them in their own commu- nities.”


It is the CAB’s willing- ness to work with others which Dominique says make this CAB so unique. Despite the fact that knowledge and public awareness about HIV/ AIDS have significantly increased over the years, Dominique believes that there are still some seg- ments of the community that are overlooked. “I think some certain segments are forgotten and


“In the HIV world, we talk about black women be- ing the fastest growing rate of HIV infections yet we are not talking about their sexual partners, we are not engaging the people they are having sex with. The Community Advisory Board recognizes this.”


Everyone, says Domi- nique, should be engaged in the dialogue about the disease. “We want to talk to gay men, we want to talk to straight men, we want to talk to women, we want to talk to transgendered, we’re not leaving anybody out of the conversations, says Dominique and the CAB’s mission is to see that ev- eryone in the community is afforded a seat at the table. “They [CAB members] make every effort to reach out to any and every com- munity to make sure that they have the proper infor- mation and that, if they’re not the right people to give it, they are the kind of people who will help them find the proper resource,” Dominique says.


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Disclosure statement: The au- thor, Nathaniel Lee, works with the CFAR-CAB to raise com- munity Awareness.


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