Core A: Administrative (Admin) Project Summary/Abstract The mission of the Administrative (Admin) Core is to be the engine that makes SD CFAR work. The Core relies on agile leadership and communication, responsible fiscal and regulatory oversight, active community engagement, and transformative strategic planning and quality improvement to advance our Center’s high- impact, multi-disciplinary HIV research that emphasizes its priorities of preventing new infections, optimizing HIV care, and developing a cure while promoting health equity. The Core fosters a culture of inclusive excellence to train the next generation of HIV scientists, and it meaningfully partners with community stakeholders. This allows us to extend our reach beyond our local binational region to make national and global impact. The Admin Core accomplishes our mission through the following specific aims : 1. Leadership and Communication: Promote SD CFAR engagement, collaboration, efficiency, and visibility through effective leadership and clear communication. 2. Fiscal and Regulatory Oversight: Provide comprehensive fiscal management and timely reporting to Core and SWG Directors, grant recipients, member institutions, and the NIH. 3. Community Engagement: Partner with, support, and galvanize a wide range of community stakeholders in San Diego and the U.S.-Mexico border region to inform and participate in HIV research. 4. Strategic Planning and Quality Improvement: Promote the SD CFAR’s mission through continuous quality improvement, ongoing evaluation, strategic planning, and awareness of the considerations of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI). Structure: The SD CFAR is multi-institutional. The Admin Core fosters participation and collaboration among its members at the La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology (LJI), San Diego State University (SDSU), Scripps Research (SR), and University of California San Diego (UCSD) which includes the VA San Diego Healthcare System and Veterans Medical Research Foundation (VMRF). The Admin Core is co-directed by Drs. Davey Smith (contact PI), Douglas Richman and Jamila Stockman (Leadership Trainee). Progress: The Admin Core has been the engine that keeps our Center moving toward its goals. The Core met all aims outlined in our 2017 competing renewal application and expanded many of them, such as: 1) diversifying leadership; 2) reorganizing basic science cores; 3) expanding sociobehavioral science capacity; 4) integrating SDSU as a member institution; and 5) hosting the 24th Annual National CFAR Meetings.