Who We Are
Meeting the challenges of global HIV/AIDS
at the intersection of gender, sexuality, and mental health
The HIV Center for Clincal and Behavioral Studies was founded in 1987 by Dr. Anke Ehrhardt (left), Center Director, and Dr. Zena Stein, Center Co-Director Emerita. (Photo courtesy of Eve Vagg)
Introduction
Since our founding in 1987, the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University has conducted research on HIV prevention and treatment through the lens of gender, sexuality, and mental health. Our goal has been to design effective interventions to reduce risk for HIV infection among heterosexual women and men, children and adolescents, men who have sex with men, and people with mental illness.
Our work also aims to help HIV-positive individuals cope with HIV infection and to explore issues relating to ethics, policy, and society. Research at the HIV Center comprises approximately 40 individual studies involving more than 100 investigators and staff from disciplines that include psychology, psychiatry, public health, anthropology, sociology, and social work. We work in New York City and State, nationally, and internationally. In all, the HIV Center is one of the oldest and most productive continuously funded AIDS research centers in the United States.
In 2007, the HIV Center received its fifth renewal from NIMH with a focus on the theme of “Meeting the Challenges of Global AIDS at the Intersection of Gender, Sexuality, and Mental Health.” The HIV Center's research program is supported by an infrastructure of six Cores, and we collaborate with nine Columbia University schools/departments, 39 outside institutions in the US, and 16 international institutions in 10 countries. The HIV Center is the site of training activities that attract fellows, medical residents, graduate students, visiting scientists, and clinical providers from institutions in the US and abroad.
