New NIH Grant Will Help Ensure Future HIV Cures Actually Reach People

August 6, 2026

We are thrilled to announce an exciting NIH award to our CFAR community: REALISE — Research on End-user Acceptability and Long-term Impacts of HIV Cure Strategies.

Here's the big question REALISE is tackling: HIV cure science is advancing fast, but even a scientifically successful cure won't have its full impact if we don't understand what people actually want, especially with long-acting antiretroviral therapy (ART) already offering a convenient alternative, and with 30–40% of people living with HIV in the U.S. not yet durably suppressed. Without that understanding, we risk not reaching as many people as we can.

REALISE takes a different approach, asking what patients actually want before a cure ever reaches the market. The study will talk to researchers and developers about what's realistically on the horizon, survey 360 patients across Missouri, Georgia, and San Francisco about what trade-offs they'd accept, and model the real-world health impact and cost-effectiveness of it all.

REALISE is led by Midwest D-CFAR Director Elvin Geng, with co-investigators George Kyei (Director, Midwest D-CFAR Advanced Technology Core) and Matt Hickey from the University of California, San Francisco. The investgator team brings together complementary expertise in HIV cure science, implementation science, and health economics. Rachel Presti (Co-Director, Midwest D-CFAR Clinical Science Core) and Emmanuel Tettah (Midwest D-CFAR member) are also part of the research team. Together, the investigators are working to ensure that future HIV cure strategies are informed by the priorities of people living with HIV and can be successfully implemented in real-world settings. Congratulations to everyone involved on this exciting recognition of your work!

As Dr. Matt Hickey put it:

"As HIV cure science continues to advance, implementation science is an essential ingredient for ensuring that emerging strategies translate into meaningful real-world impact. I'm especially excited about the team science behind REALISE, bringing together complementary expertise in HIV cure, implementation science, and health economics across institutions to help ensure future HIV cures reflect the priorities and needs of people living with HIV and ultimately have maximal impact."

Written by Tessa Gauzy.