Supporting Research for Older Adults Living with HIV

Cross-posted from: Inside NIA Blog

During the early years of the AIDS epidemic four decades ago, life expectancy for a person diagnosed with HIV was just three years due to a lack of effective treatments. Today, thanks to major therapeutic advances, people living with HIV are leading much longer and healthier lives.

This significant progress has, however, led to a new challenge. More than 50% of those living with HIV in the United States are older than 50 years of age, and as a result of the virus and related long-term treatment, many experience early onset of age-related conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, metabolic disorders, kidney disease, and cognitive issues.

NIA has long been committed to research promoting healthy aging among older adults living with HIV. We are pleased to share a few relevant upcoming opportunities designed to help interested investigators engage in aging research.

New Women’s Health Funding Opportunities

Multiple initiatives are underway to help us understand more about the causes of accelerated aging in people with HIV and to identify new ways to manage and prevent these conditions. Earlier this month, NIH marked National Women’s Health Week, an important reminder that women can be at higher risk for HIV.

Check out this new notice of special interest (NOSI), Research Opportunities Centering the Health of Women Across the HIV Research Continuum, and review the associated notices of funding opportunities linked to NIA for the first available due date. This NOSI highlights research at the intersection of HIV, aging, and women’s health, including the early onset of age-related conditions such as physical and cognitive impairment, menopause, and multimorbidity. NIA plans to participate in several funding opportunities associated with the NOSI. View the tables toward the bottom of the page for more details.

Additional Funding Opportunities

NIA supports a broad portfolio of HIV and aging research. Additional opportunities include:

• Multidisciplinary Studies of HIV and Aging (PAR-24-091, PAR-24-092)
  We invite proposals for research projects that will:
  • Improve the understanding of biological, clinical, and socio-behavioral aspects of aging through the lens of HIV infection and its treatment
  • Improve approaches for testing, preventing, and treating HIV infection, and managing HIV-related comorbidities, co-infections, and complications in different populations and cultural settings

• NOSI: Interventions to Reduce Chronic Inflammation and Inflammation-Related Morbidity in People Living with HIV (NOT-AT-24-035)
  We are seeking research projects designed to examine interventions aimed at preventing, reducing, or reversing chronic systemic inflammation and related conditions and complications in people living with HIV.

Join Us July 21 for a Workshop on Aging and HIV

Last but not least, we invite interested members of the HIV and/or aging research communities and beyond to join us July 21 for Exploring the Intersection of HIV and Aging — A Geroscience PerspectiveExit Disclaimer, an exciting pre-conference workshop being held in conjunction with the AIDS 2024 meetingExit Disclaimer. This event will be an opportunity to learn about new biological findings from aging-related research studies and how that information can be translated into new interventions that can help older adults living with HIV. Register today!Exit Disclaimer

Stay in Touch!

If you have questions about these funding opportunities or the workshop, please email me. We look forward to hearing your ideas and advancing the science around HIV and aging!