The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) is the latest recipient of a federal grant to help train medical residents to provide services for people living with HIV. Specifically, UNC received a $68,000 grant and was named a National HIV Residency Pathway Consortium Site, according to a press release from UNC Health and UNC School of Medicine.

UNC’s Rick Moore, MD, and Louise Rambo King, MD, will lead the efforts to train residents in family medicine and internal medicine programs to manage HIV care. “There is a real need for primary care physicians who are able to care for people living with HIV,” King said in the release. “This grant will give us the resources to support this area of concentration and develop it so that it is sustainable for the future.”

“This grant gives us the opportunity to strengthen and deepen experiences within the HIV and viral hepatitis training program,” Moore added. “We are thrilled to be taking part in this grant and what it allows us to do for resident education and development.”

The National HIV Residency Pathway Consortium is an effort to train and support primary care physicians to better care for clients who have HIV, notably in areas where there is a need for improved HIV care and prevention.

The consortium is supported by the federal Health Resources and Service Administration HIV/AIDS Bureau Ryan White Program and receives funding through the New England AIDS Education and Training Center. According to the center’s website, HIV Pathway Consortium Sites include:

  • Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester, Massachusetts;

  • Highland Hospital in Oakland, California;

  • University of North Carolina Family Medicine Center in Chapel Hill;

  • University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas;

  • University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville; and

  • Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.

“We are grateful for the collaboration between the family medicine and internal medicine departments and the invaluable contributions from the UNC infectious diseases division and the NC AIDS education training center, housed at UNC,” King said. “We are definitely better together!”