The Campbell Foundation has awarded a $48,900 grant to Sahera Dirajlal-Fargo, DO, a pediatric infectious disease specialist in Cleveland, Ohio, to examine the influence of inflammation in the lining of blood vessels of young people living with HIV.

According to a Campbell press release, ongoing inflammation is associated with many health problems among HIV-positive people, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. Research in this area has been conducted among adults with HIV but not the younger population.

Dirajlal-Fargo and her team at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, will use the grant to determine whether the markers of inflammation in younger people with HIV are associated with markers of cardiovascular risk and insulin resistence.

“As HIV-infected youths age, it is becoming increasingly important to study their risk of developing other health problems,” said Campbell Foundation program officer Ken Kapkin in the press release. “Our foundation’s mission is to fund novel and groundbreaking HIV research, and we believe Dr. Dirajlal-Fargo’s work fits nicely with that mission.”