Beginning in 1997, the University of California, San Francisco Center for AIDS Prevention Studies began an intensive training and mentoring Visiting Professor program to support the development of high-potential, early-career researchers across the United States. The goal of the program is to train these visiting professors to become leading social scientists who conduct research to reduce HIV/STI health disparities. CAPS is situated in the UCSF School of Medicine, which is tied for the 4th Best Medical School in Research in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report. UCSF has the No.1 HIV/AIDS research program, is the 3rd highest recipient of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding, and is the No. 1 sexual and gender minority health research program in the United States.

During her three-year appointment, Dr. Budhwani will enhance her research portfolio in HIV prevention among young sexual and gender minorities, with special emphasis on African American and Black youth in the United States Deep South. This portfolio will be furthered by collaborating with the NICHD-funded Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN); Dr. Budhwani will be mentored by senior scholars as UCSF, UAB, and ATN leadership, namely Drs. Sylvie Naar, Distinguished Endowed Professor at Florida State University College of Medicine, and Lisa Hightow-Weidman, Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Dr. Budhwani’s research agenda aims to reduce new HIV infections through the development, implementation, and assessment of biobehavioral prevention strategies, including improved and tailored prevention education and the delivery of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

Dr. Budhwani will participate in the visiting professorship virtually in 2021 and will be on the UCSF campus in San Francisco for the summers of 2022 and 2023. For more information on the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, visit the Center’s website.