Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The University of Florida's Division of Sponsored Research received a $782,085 Project Grant award dated June 25, 2026, from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837). The award funds research through February 28, 2031, to identify actionable multilevel intervention strategies designed to improve cardiovascular health outcomes among people with HIV (PWH). The project will employ advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to analyze multidimensional data integrated from electronic health records, socio-ecological databases, and physical measurements to identify syndemic patterns—clustering of multiple social drivers across social-ecological domains that disproportionately accelerate cardiovascular disease risk in PWH populations.

The research addresses a critical gap in understanding how social, behavioral, and healthcare access barriers interact across individual, interpersonal, community, and societal levels to drive excess cardiovascular disease among PWH. Deliverables include identification of complex relationships and syndemic clustering among social drivers, development of realistic, evidence-based intervention targets that extend beyond individual clinical treatment to address interpersonal relationships, community contexts, and broader social structures, and actionable recommendations to inform multilevel, scalable interventions. The project will be performed at the University of Florida's Gainesville, Florida campus.