New Orleans Adolescent Medicine Trials Unit Sue E. Abdalian, Principal Investigator Tulane University Project Description The New Orleans Adolescent Medicine Trials Unit will contribute to and support the scientific agenda of Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions. Composed of members of the adolescent care team, the Tulane/LSU/Charity Pediatric AIDS Trials Unit, and the New Orleans Adolescent HIV/AIDS Research Program, the New Orleans AMTU will have had more than eight years' clinical experience with HIV-infected youth and participation in multi-center clinical research networks. In addition, the collaborating agencies have more than ten years’ history reaching out to youth in the community by building services for adolescents and young adults. In support of the initiative's call for a broad array of supporting and direct intervention studies aimed at the primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of HIV infection in adolescents and young adults, young people will be recruited to a managerial database of youth who can be contacted for accrual to clinical trials. This will be supported by studies that assess models of prevention such as vaccines, access to prevention health, skill-building, and other buffers for youth against HIV. Trials exploring effective measures of identifying and linking HIV-infected youth to health care, therapies that exploit the immunologic resilience of youth, drug management strategies, and methods of supporting adherence are being implemented in current activities and will be expanded as an AMTU. Finally, studies that investigate the impact of HIV on young people's lives and decision-making with a view to implementing interventions that support youth's resilience under adverse circumstances as well as interventions with salvage protocols for youth who are very ill and may not have many options, are anticipated. The New Orleans AMTU has the individual and organizational capacity to inform, guide, and implement studies proposed by an adolescent Medicine Leadership Group. In addition, this AMTU will strengthen the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network through its own contributions to the scientific agenda and to an understanding of community work and work with disadvantaged, hard to reach adolescents. Project Period 4/01 through 2/06 Availability of Data Contact the Principal Investigator Publications D'Angelo LJ, Abdalian SE, Sarr M, Hoffman N, Belzer M. Disclosure of serostatus by HIV infected youth: the experience of the REACH study. J Adolesc Health. 2001 Sep;29(3 Suppl):72-79. Sponsor National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Grant 5U01HD040470-02 Contact Information Sue E. Abdalian Tulane University New Orleans, LA 70118 Email: sabdali@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu Web: Adolescent Trials Network

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