The CFAR Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS) was funded in Sept 2006 as an R24 award to provide a research infrastructure to support HIV clinical outcomes research. The national center is based at the University of Alabama.

The objective of the CNICS project is to integrate clinical data from the large and diverse population of HIV-infected persons in the modern HAART era who are receiving care at one of the many U.S. federally funded Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) sites. The nine participating sites comprise a diverse cohort of more than 15,000 patients.

The clinical treatment of HIV/AIDS in the era of Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) is extremely dynamic with unprecedented combinations of therapies and a myriad of patient and virologic responses to therapy. Long-term outcomes research is necessary to provide clinicians with up-to-date information on the best strategies to employ in their patients' individual situations. Historically, evidence for clinical care decisions has been generated through the conduct of randomized controlled clinical trials, epidemiology-based prospective clinical cohorts, and anecdotal reports. A new approach that will synergize with these methods is outcomes research based on the utilization of data derived directly from newly developed electronic medical record (EMR) systems and compiling such data into novel research networks. Such EMR systems are already in existence at several Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR) sites in the United States.