A Guide to Fiscal Year 1991 Federal Funding for HIV Disease: How Dollars are Spent How to Access Them

Division of Applied Research
Room 10A-53
5600 Fishers Ln.
Rockville, MD 20857
301/443-6780
Application kits may be obtained from:
Grants Management Branch
NIDA
Room 8A-54
5600 Fishers Ln.
Rockville, MD 20857
301/443-6710
National Institute of Mental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
AIDS/HIV research program supports basic science
research focusing on neuroscience, neuropsychiatric,
and behavioral aspects of HIV infection and AIDS.
Major areas of emphasis include: biomedical
research, including behavioral neuroimmunology;
neuroscience and neuropsychiatric research, including assessment of cognitive/neuropsychological functions, AIDS dementia complex, and development of
therapeutic agents.
In the area of behavioral neuroimmunology, NIMH
focuses on studies of the relationships between
behavior, the brain, and the endocrine, and immune
systems. Basic research is aimed at understanding
the cellular and molecular basis of the complex communication between these systems.
NIMH has supported AIDS Research Centers in
specific communities conducting studies on issues
such as: the neurological and cognitive complications
of pediatric HIV infection; multi-disciplinary research
into psychosocial, immunologic, neurophysiologic,
and neuropsychologic aspects of HIV infection in
at-risk populations; and mechanisms and effects of
HIV infection in the central nervous system.
NIMH is the focus for PHS research on behavior
and its psychological and psychosocial determinants.
Efforts have been conducted jointly with the NIH and
the CDC on behavior change and prevention strategies to reduce transmission of HIV. In addition,
research has addressed determinants of risk
behaviors and preventive interventions to reduce the
spread of HIV infection with understudied populations such as adolescents and minorities.
NIMH AIDS prevention research has focused on

behavior change and developing methods to help
people avoid specific sexual and drug-using behaviors

that place them at risk for becoming infected. Interpersonal intervention studies to reduce high-risk sexual and drug-using behaviors are a major part of this
program, including intervention studies of gay men
utilizing cognitive behavior therapy, using techniques
of assertiveness training, skill training, and stress
reduction to change high-risk behaviors for HIV
infection.
Adolescent AIDS prevention projects have
included: development and testing of education interventions in school, including projects focusing on
minority adolescents; development and evaluation of
intervention approaches with runaway adolescents,
gay adolescents, adolescents in residential centers,
and adolescent sex offenders; and AIDS intervention
on college campuses.
NIMH has also conducted programs aimed at
developing counseling strategies for HIV-positive
individuals, their families and friends, developing
model curricula to train health-care providers in
neuropsychiatric and psychosocial aspects of HIV
infection, and integration of mental health AIDS
education into health care AIDS training provided
through the HRSA Education and Training Center
program. In addition, NIMH-sponsored conferences
have examined mental health priorities and services
relating to HIV. The NIMH maintains the following
areas of research interest related to HIV:
* Psychosocial, prevention and behavior change including: determinants, development and distribution
of risk behaviors; theory driven psychosocial and
behavioral interventions to prevent HIV infection and
AIDS; social and communications processes influencing HIV prevention strategies and programs; and
methodological research.
* Brain, immune system, and behavioral aspects
of HIV infection and AIDS, including: interactions
among the Central Nervous System (CNS), endocrine
and immune systems and behavior; regulation of
immune responses by behavioral processes operating
through the CNS and endocrine systems, which have
relevance for HIV infection; understanding the role
of stressful environments and individual control over
the environment in influencing the immune system's
defenses against retroviral illnesses; basic neuroimmunology to better understand the etiology and
pathology of viral infection of the brain; effects of
HIV infection, on brain-immune interaction; and
influence of the immune system on the brain, including its role in brain development, and the function of the immune system in specific behaviors,
motivational states, and stress.

* Central Nervous System (CNS) effects of HIV in
~1991 ASAP

Reproduction By Permission Only

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~1991 ASAP Reproduction By Permission Only 67