Amanda Miller named leadership trainee with San Diego Center for AIDS Research
Amanda Miller, a professor with San Diego State University’s School of Public Health, was recently named a leadership trainee with the San Diego Center for AIDS Research (SD CFAR).
Miller joins the developmental core, which provides HIV researchers with career development opportunities, from project funding to workshops and seminars. Prior to this role, she spent many years on the receiving end of these resources.
“CFAR has played a really important role in my professional development, from using the O-K grant review program as a doctoral trainee to receiving pilot funding and gaining experience as both an intramural and O-K grant reviewer,” Miller said. “Being named a leadership trainee feels like a transition from primarily benefiting from these resources to helping shape them.”
Miller’s primary responsibility is to support the core’s mission and initiatives. Right now, she and the core are focused on refining their mission and “strategic priorities" as they prepare for the 2027 grant application cycle.
Part of Miller’s value to the core is her experience with the grant landscape. She started with the SD CFAR as a grant reviewer, evaluating applicants for grant distribution. She’s also received several grants herself from the National Institutes of Health.
“This is a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in how a large, NIH-funded research center operates,” she said. “My goal is not only to learn as much as possible during the trainee period, but also to position myself to continue contributing to CFAR leadership in a more sustained way over time.”
Miller is one of a few SDSU faculty currently working with the SD CFAR, including public health professor Hala Madanat, who serves on the SD CFAR executive committee. School of Social Work professor Eileen Pitpitan is also a co-director with the center’s operations team.
Because SDSU is a member institution with the center, trainee and general membership is available to all students and faculty interested in HIV-related work.
“The CFAR is an underutilized resource that I want all SDSU students, staff, and faculty to take advantage of,” Miller said. “There are numerous opportunities for guidance, mentorship, training, and funding for emerging HIV researchers.”
With many trainees becoming core directors over the years, the SD CFAR has developed a track record of fostering leadership development.
During her time as a trainee, Miller has had early exposure to key decision making processes during core and center-wide meetings.
“One of the things I’ve appreciated most about this role is the opportunity to be actively involved from the start,” she said. “I’ve been able to contribute ideas and perspectives in both large and small ways, which has made it a very engaging and meaningful experience.”
Although she is still in the early stages of her teaching career and her new role with the SD CFAR, Miller has created a place for herself to support the next generation of scientists and public health researchers in San Diego.
