Project Summary/Abstract HIV-related brain disorders (NeuroAIDS), including mental health, neurocognitive, and neurological problems, remain common globally. Over the past 10 years, the Multidisciplinary NeuroAIDS Research and Training Program to Improve HIV Outcomes has developed new NeuroAIDS research capacity at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (UI) in three interacting cores: the Mental Health Core, Translational and Clinical Sciences Core, and the Neuropsychological Infrastructure Core. Our overarching goal in the next 5 years is to bridge the residual gaps necessary for UI to become a Center of Excellence for NeuroAIDS Research, not only for Nigeria but for Africa. This will require 1) developing UI’s capacity in two previously unaddressed NeuroAIDS research areas of high public health significance, 2) increasing the local mass of externally-funded NeuroAIDS researchers and mentors, and 3) continuing the progressive transfer of the program’s leadership to UI. The strategic approach capitalizes on the momentum from our NICHD-funded research, iCARE Nigeria (UG3/UH3HD096920; MPIs: Babafemi Taiwo and Robert Garofalo), through which we have built trust with Nigeria’s stigmatized and criminalized sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations. We will also leverage previously untapped, outstanding mental health and stroke research resources at UI. Specific aims have been articulated. Aim 1a is focused on SGM mental health. Here, we will add new trainees to the existing Mental Health Core and develop expertise in mental health research and biobehavioral interventions and strategies to improve the health outcomes of SGM living with and at risk for HIV. Training will span clinical, epidemiological, socio-behavioral, network, and implementation science. We will enroll 2 postdoctoral faculty members (physicians or PhDs) per year, mainly from psychiatry or medical social science into customized 2-year curricula that include tailored didactics, skill building, and mentored research. In Aim 1b, we will tackle stroke in people living with HIV (PLWH) by adding new trainees to the Clinical and Translational Sciences Core to unravel the local epidemiology, mechanisms, and interventions for stroke among PLWH. One postdoctoral faculty per year will be enrolled from neurology, medicine, radiology, or other fields into customized 2-year curricula as in Aim 1a. Aim 2 is to develop more NeuroAIDS leaders in UI from the best early-career investigators among those we have trained previously AND by attracting established investigators from other fields to NeuroAIDS. Here, we will implement “Extended Protected Time” for two competitively selected previous trainees per year and an innovative “Mentor the Mentor” initiative. In Aim 3, we will advance our commitment to transfer program ownership and management to UI. Thus, we will implement an MPI structure with UI co-leadership and new Ibadan NeuroAIDS Grant Writers Coaching Groups. Finally, UI will lead a regional NeuroAIDS Week every two years to extend the program’s impact beyond UI and cement UI’s capacity and capability as a Center of Excellence for NeuroAIDS research and capacity development in Africa.

Project Narrative Brain-related problems remain common in persons living with HIV despite improvements in HIV treatment. This project is a continuation of research training to develop scientists at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria to improve the brain health of people living with HIV.