The Louisiana University Health Sciences Center New Orleans Comprehensive Alcohol-HIV/AIDS Research Center (CARC), a multidisciplinary team of scientists led by Dr. Patricia E. Molina focused on understanding the impact of alcohol use disorders on human immunodeficiency virus disease and age related comorbidities has been awarded $7.2 M (2P60AA009803-32) to support clinical and preclinical mechanistic bidirectional translational studies, training, mentoring, and information dissemination.

The studies in the CARC focus on disease states afflicting our local community, by studying the impact of alcohol and its interaction with environmental (neighborhood) and behavioral (diet, alcohol, and other substance use) factors that increase risk of comorbidities. The studies will examine the impact of interventions aimed at improving energy metabolism at the immune, metabolic, and nervous system levels. Four Research Components led by established investigators work together to identify the impact of environmental and interpersonal stress, anxiety, depression; the mechanisms underlying alcohol-associated risk for age-related comorbidities; the impact of alcohol use disorder on biobehavioral mechanisms associated with neurological comorbidities, specifically pain and cognitive deficits; and the mechanisms underlying alcohol-mediated alterations in immunosenescent T cells. An Information Dissemination Core that promotes training and accelerates the translation and dissemination of CARC research findings to current and future health care providers and individuals in the community complements the research activities of the center.

The LSUHSC Alcohol Research Center, one of only 7 was initiated in 1993 with Dr. John J. Spitzer as Director, Dr. Steve Nelson as Co-Director, and a team of investigators from the Departments of Physiology and Medicine (Section of Pulmonary/Critical Care). The center has been continuously funded and has thrived, evolved, and expanded through Dr. Spitzer’s retirement in 2000, the succession in leadership to Dr. Nelson and subsequently to Dr. Molina in 2009. The CARC, one of seven comprehensive alcohol centers in the US, leverages and synergizes state-of-the-art institutional resources and infrastructure that provides an outstanding scientific environment, to advance our collective understanding of the consequences of alcohol use and its impact on risk for comorbidities.