Dr. Cantos & Dr. Saldana awarded $2.8 M over four years in CDC grants to advance sexual health initiatives with a focus on Atlanta’s Latino population

Emory University is proud to announce that Valeria Cantos, MD, and Carlos Saldana, MD, faculty members in the Division of Infectious Diseases and members of the Center for AIDS Research at Emory University (Emory CFAR), have each been awarded highly competitive U01 grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Each grant provides $1.4 million over four years to advance sexual health initiatives prioritizing Hispanic and Latino populations in the Atlanta area.

These awards are part of the Minority HIV Research Initiative (MARI) (RFA-PS-24-063), which aims to address health disparities in racial and ethnic minority communities disproportionately affected by HIV. This initiative aligns with the federal Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States by 2030, focusing on diagnosing, treating, preventing, and responding to HIV outbreaks.

Dr. Cantos’ project, “IntégraTE,” will develop and pilot an implementation strategy to enhance HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) accessibility and quality of care for Latino men who have sex with men at three Federally Qualified Health Centers in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. The project aims to improve clinical practices and public health outcomes by increasing PrEP linkage and reducing HIV transmission among this vulnerable group.

Dr. Saldana’s initiative, “SALUD MOVIL,” leverages technology and community-informed frameworks to address barriers in healthcare delivery for Latino gay and bisexual men. This project will integrate bilingual telemedicine for HIV Care and Prevention and integrate it with mobile HIV/STI testing and phlebotomy services. The goal is to develop a scalable toolkit designed to address the social and structural challenges faced by the Latino community.

Both Drs. Cantos and Saldana are recipients of pilot funding through the Emory CFAR program. Dr. Cantos was a CFAR Adelante Scholar and was Co-Project Director on a CFAR Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) supplement for which Dr. Saldana was a Co-Investigator. Dr. Saldana received a second EHE supplement in 2023 as Co-Project Director. Emory University and the Emory CFAR are honored to support these projects, which contribute significantly to the national effort to end the HIV epidemic and exemplify our commitment to research excellence and community service.