Opportunity Overview
Duke Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for AIDS Research have issued the Request for Applications: The Duke/UAB Inter-CFAR Pilot Funding Program on Contextual Drivers of Health and HIV. The program is designed to create new cross-institution collaborations among early-stage investigators and investigators new to HIV research and to study how contextual drivers of health affect HIV prevention, care engagement, retention, adherence, quality of life, and related outcomes. Projects must explain how pilot findings will support a subsequent intervention-development, intervention-refinement, pilot-testing, or implementation-science grant application.
Funding and Match
The award provides $50,000 per year for up to two years, for a maximum program award of $100,000. Funding is to be split equally between the multiple principal investigators at Duke and UAB. The controlling RFA does not state a mandatory match or cost-share requirement. The application requires a budget and budget justification on the NIH PHS 398 form page. The RFA does not publish a complete allowable-cost table. It does state that CFAR funds cannot support clinical trials and that T32 awardees cannot use the CFAR award for training or stipends.
Eligibility
Each proposal must include one early-stage investigator or investigator new to HIV research from Duke and one from UAB serving as multiple principal investigators, plus one mentor from each participating institution. An early-stage investigator is defined as a New Investigator who completed the terminal research degree or medical residency, whichever is later, within the prior 10 years and has not previously received a substantial independent NIH research grant. An investigator new to HIV research is an investigator at any career stage who has not previously led or received NIH-funded R-level HIV research support. Study populations must be in the United States. Postdoctoral and clinical fellows require a supervising-mentor letter of support; applicants with a current K award need NIH pre-approval.
Research Scope
The RFA welcomes research on contextual drivers such as economic stability, education access and quality, neighborhood and built environment, transportation, stigma, healthcare access and quality, and social/community context. Community-engaged and interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged. Clinical trials are not eligible for CFAR funding; observational clinical research and sub-studies using existing trial data may be eligible if they do not introduce an intervention, subject to NIH and IRB requirements.
Deadlines and Submission
A Letter of Intent is required and due October 1, 2026. The LOI is submitted through the Duke CFAR Qualtrics form and must include contact information for both MPIs, proposed mentors, a descriptive project title, study objectives, and an overview of research methods. The full application is due November 2, 2026. The controlling RFA and current Duke CFAR opportunity page do not state a submission time or time zone for either deadline, so Atlas does not infer one.
Full applications must be combined into one complete PDF using the specified file-naming convention and include, in order: (1) completed Checklist/Cover Sheet with signatures; (2) Research Proposal, maximum four pages excluding references; (3) 300-word Community-Facing Summary; (4) Budget and Budget Justification on NIH PHS 398 form page; (5) NIH-format biosketches for both MPIs; (6) NIH-format biosketches for mentors; (7) 300-word Project Leadership Plan; and (8) other supporting documents, including required letters of support. No Duke SPS record is required.
Contacts and Amendments
General program and submission questions may be directed to the Duke CFAR Developmental Core at cfarinfo@duke.edu. For Duke mentorship matching, the RFA names Rachel Austin at rachel.austin@duke.edu; for community-engagement support it names Lizzy Knippler at elizabeth.knippler@duke.edu. The current controlling opportunity page and RFA do not list a separate addendum or amendment. Applicants should nevertheless recheck the Duke CFAR opportunity page before submission because networking dates and submission links are maintained there.
Atlas Fit Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 72/100. The opportunity is verified, currently open, offers up to $100,000 over two years, and supports healthcare-access and implementation-oriented HIV research. Its applicant pool is narrow because every application requires a paired Duke-UAB investigator team and mentors at both institutions.
N9+ Fit Score: 12/100. The RFA allows research on healthcare access, decentralized service models, and mobile/remote options, creating a limited conceptual pathway for research involving remote physical-examination workflows. However, the opportunity is not a telehealth or connected-diagnostic solicitation, clinical trials are ineligible, and Atlas will not force N9+ into the research design.
Dr. Miltie/QC Healthcare direct-vendor assessment: Dr. Miltie and QC Healthcare are not eligible direct applicants because the required MPIs must be investigators at Duke and UAB. A vendor or technology collaborator could participate only if an eligible investigator-led research plan independently justifies that role and the budget treatment is permitted by the CFAR administrators.
Realistic Eligible Organizations
Duke University is the required North Carolina institutional site, paired with a qualifying investigator at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Within North Carolina, the most realistic applicant pathway is a Duke early-stage investigator or investigator new to HIV research with a UAB counterpart and one mentor at each CFAR. Atlas does not identify unrelated North Carolina organizations as direct applicants because the RFA does not allow them to substitute for the required Duke MPI.
Next Action
Eligible Duke investigators should identify a qualifying UAB MPI and mentors at both institutions, submit the required LOI by October 1, and use the CFAR pre-submission and mentorship resources if needed. Dr. Miltie/QC Healthcare should not pursue as a direct applicant. Any technology collaboration should be investigator-led and should not be represented as allowable until CFAR confirms the proposed budget treatment.
Controlling sources: Duke CFAR — Duke/UAB Inter-CFAR Contextual Drivers of Health and HIV Pilot Award; Official Duke/UAB Inter-CFAR CDOH Request for Applications (PDF).