The University of Washington/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) is pleased to announce the winner of 2025 Stephaun Elite Wallace Community Investigator Award competition. The purpose of the Wallace Awards is to grow capacity for community-led HIV research. The Wallace Awards are also intended to facilitate community-based organization (CBO)-CFAR member connections and collaborations. Recipients are awarded $5,000-$20,000/year (direct costs) for up to 2 years to conduct their project.
This award honors the founding Director of the UW/Fred Hutch CFAR Office of Community Engagement (OCE), Dr. Stephaun Elite Wallace, a scientist, leader in the Ballroom community, and champion of community-led research.
“Dr. Stephaun Wallace was a pillar of the Seattle HIV research community and a champion for community-led research,” said the current director of the OCE, Louis Shackelford, MPH. “The Wallace Awards are a direct extension of his legacy and vision for science that is responsive to the needs and desires of everyday people.”
Congratulations to our 2025 CFAR Wallace Award recipient, Elle Brooks!
Elle has been the Director of Health Services at Seattle’s LGBTQ+ Center since 2023. As Director, she has overseen multiple research projects in partnership with UW and CFAR; including ongoing quality assurance research with David Katz. While receiving their Master’s in Public Health, Elle conducted qualitative research and data analysis in partnership with Africare. They gained further experience in collecting community feedback and making program recommendations based on outcomes while working for the Department of Health, Office of Infectious Disease.
The proposed project aims to design and implement a youth-led sexual health literacy education campaign for youth in Seattle. The project will engage young people as co-creators in designing culturally relevant educational materials. The long-term objective is to increase awareness, reduce stigma, and empower youth to make informed decisions about HIV prevention and treatment.
As Principal Investigator, Elle will seek to determine major knowledge gaps for STI, HIV and other aspects of sexual health for youth in the Seattle-King County Area and to understand how and where youth consume healthcare by administering knowledge surveys and focus groups. Utilizing the results from the surveys and focus groups, they will develop a community-informed sexual health knowledge campaign for youth with the Seattle LGBTQ+ Center’s Youth Advisory Council (YAC). This well-established group of youth will participate in co-design sessions, peer review, and outreach planning.
“This is a strong, well-designed, community-engaged proposal that places youth at the center of both research design and implementation,” said Steven Sawyer, executive director of the People of Color Against AIDS Network (POCAAN) and co-founder of Pacific Northwest Black Pride. “The integration of the Youth Advisory Council (YAC) as co-designers demonstrates genuine community ownership.”
As a recipient of a Wallace Award, Elle will be offered prioritized consideration for CFAR training opportunities. They will also gain access to UW/Fred Hutch CFAR resources, including public health-focused workshops/webinars and select courses taught by CFAR researchers while completing their projects.
To learn more about the CFAR Wallace Awards, please contact cfaroce@uw.edu.