HIV/AIDS Center at UIC to Expand Training Program Nationally through $3 Million Grant

photos of the four UIC researchers involved in this project

Part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) ambitious plan to end the AIDS epidemic by the year 2030, the Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center (MATEC) at the University of Illinois College of Medicine will expand its HIV/AIDS training program across the United States. MATEC currently supports 16 academic institutions with accredited programs of medicine, nursing and pharmacy in the Midwest. With $3 million of funding from HHS, the program will be expanded nationally to 57 jurisdictions that have been designated as high priority. Under the new initiative, MATEC will continue working with graduate schools in medicine, nursing and pharmacy, and with the new funding will expand to include physician residency programs for dentists and family medicine practitioners. The training assists faculty, especially those who are not HIV specialists and who may lack the HIV clinical background, by providing knowledge of HIV content, appropriate teaching methods and ways to address potential students’ reluctance to engage vulnerable communities most affected by HIV.