Pilot Award Projects
Forge AHEAD Center: Pilot Award Projects
Forge AHEAD Center is committed to awarding early stage investigators pilot award funds for projects to advance the knowledge of health equity and chronic diseases. By supporting these projects, we are forging a future of informed, diverse researchers who are quick to collaborate and innovate. We look forward to fostering the next generation of investigators.
The following projects have been awarded to Forge AHEAD Scholars through our Pilot & Feasibility Scholars Program. Click here to learn about the funding process.
Funding is available for up to 6 projects per cycle for up to $50,000 each for one year.
Cohort 4
Facilitated Stable Housing as a Strategy for Uptake and Sustainment of Evidence-Based HIV and Cardiometabolic Medicine in People with HIV
Scholar: Donny Gerke
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: HIV, Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
Laying the Foundation for PrEP in Urgent Care Settings
Scholar: Matt Gravett
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: HIV, Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
Peer MODELS: (Managing a Community-based HIV, Diabetes, and pain intervention that Encourages healthy Living and provides Support), for PWH and T2D in the setting of chronic pain
Scholar: Kristen Allen-Watts
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: HIV, Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
Enhancing Recruitment and Retention for Black Females with HIV: Identifying Barriers, Facilitators, and the Role of Social Determinants for the Willingness to Participate in the HEALTH Study
Scholar: Rongbing Xie
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: HIV, Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
Cohort 3
Linking GAINS: Linking Genetics and Improving Nutrition in Scotlandville
Scholar: Jennifer Caldwell
Institution: PBRC
State: LA
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention, Diabetes Prevention
Adaptation and Initial Feasibility of a Primary Care-based Dyadic Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Intervention: “Heart Care Pairs”
Scholar: Kaylee Crockett
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention, HTN Control
Post-Emergency Department Discharge Clinic Telehealth Program for Patients with Uncontrolled Hypertension
Scholar: Lama Ghazi
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: HTN Control
An integrated cardiometabolic intervention targeting physical and financial health: A pilot study
Scholar: Amber W. Kinsey
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
Cohort 2
Mobile Community Stroke Self-Management Program: A Feasibility Study
Scholar: Mudasir Andrabi
Institution: UA
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
A feasibility trial of a stakeholder-enhanced, lay-navigator-delivered intervention to improve the decisional partnership of Chronic Kidney Disease dyads
Scholar: Shena Gazaway
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention, HTN Control
Sickle Cell FIT: Increasing Physical Activity in Youth with Sickle Cell Disease
Scholar: Cynthia Karlson
Institution: UMMC
State: MS
Disease focus: Obesity Treatment, Diabetes prevention
Preliminary implementation and development of an enjoyable virtual reality exercise program for the prevention of cardiometabolic disease among children with cerebral palsy in school settings
Scholar: Byron Lai
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
TARGETing Healthy Weight Loss in the Context of Food Insecurity Pilot and Feasibility Trial II
Scholar: Candice A. Myers
Institution: PBRC
State: LA
Disease focus: Obesity Treatment
Addressing Cardiometabolic Disease in People Living with HIV: Developing Strategies to Improve Diet and Exercise by Assessing Multi-level Social Determinants of Health
Scholar: Rongbing Xie
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention, HIV, Medically Complex Patients
Cohort 1
Cardiometabolic Complications in Women with PCOS: Role of Androgens, Race/Ethnicity, and the Renin-Angiotensin System
Scholar: Licy L. Yanes Cardozo
Institution: UMMC
State: MS
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
Social Determinants of Health and their Impact on Establishing Heart Failure Care in a Clinic for the Underserved
Scholar: Stephen Clarkson
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
Tracking Outcomes of Hypertension in Women with Breast Cancer
Scholar: LaQuita Cooper
Institution: UMMC
State: MS
Disease focus: HTN Control, Breast Cancer
African American Stress Intervention Study- Feasibility in Hypertension: (ASIS-Feasibility HTN Cohort)
Scholar: TJ Exford
Institution: NCATSU
State: NC
Disease focus: HTN Control
Teen Mom 2: A Multicomponent Digital Health Intervention to Improve Black Maternal Cardiometabolic Health in Mississippi’s WIC Community
Scholar: Abigail Gamble
Institution: UMMC
State: MS
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention, HTN Control
Improving patient knowledge of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: patient-centered and community-engaged pilot study
Scholar: Yulia Khodneva
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention, Medically Complex Patients
TARGETing Healthy Weight Loss in the Context of Food Insecurity Pilot and Feasibility Trial
Scholar: Candice A. Myers
Institution: PBRC
State: LA
Disease focus: Obesity Treatment
Use of home-delivered meals to manage cardiometabolic health during pregnancy among predominantly Black, low-income women in Alabama
Scholar: Camille Schneider-Worthington
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Obesity Treatment, HTN Control, Diabetes Management
