The UCLA Service Systems for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS Research Training Program provides innovative and rigorous training in the application of the social and behavioral health sciences to HIV issues. The goal of the program is to train new scholars for academic and non-academic independent research careers focusing on service systems for persons with HIV infection and AIDS. A coordinated multidisciplinary training program is designed and led by HIV scholars from medicine, psychology, psychiatry, community health sciences, sociology, health services, epidemiology, nursing, and social welfare. The program provides strong leadership, excellent HIV science mentors, and an extensive and supportive research environment.

It includes a three-year sequence for advanced students pursuing a Ph.D. in the social sciences or psychology and public health and a two-year training sequence for those with a doctorate in the social sciences or psychology. The program features a bi-weekly core seminar, foundation training in HIV/AIDS research, trainee participation under faculty supervision in HIV research projects, bio-statistical and epidemiological methods training, health evaluation methods training, training in the responsible conduct of research, and field experience with a community-based HIV organization.

The program, which has received three competitive NIH renewals, has successfully recruited and trained a total of 71 students (38 predoctoral and 33 postdoctoral) since the program began in 1989. Faculty mentors are experienced HIV researchers recruited from UCLA, Drew University, and RAND. The program has been strengthened by adding eight new HIV researchers and two resource faculty and by modifying the program’s administrative structure. The program has close ties to the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services, an NIMH-sponsored prevention research center.