African Americans and AIDS Conference

Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
February 21, 2000

Kate O'Rourke
410-955-8665
[email protected]

Researchers Face HIV Epidemic at African Americans and AIDS Conference

African-Americans comprise more than 40 percent of all new HIV/AIDS cases, and African-American women make up 60 percent of female cases. These statistics are driving the work of researchers and healthcare workers attending the 2000 National Conference on African-Americans and AIDS at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C., on February 23-25.

Co-sponsors of the conference are The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Bristol-Myers Squibb. An opening address by Donna Shalala, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, will highlight the unequal burden of HIV/AIDS on the African-American community and the need for action.

"AIDS is a crisis in our African-American communities," says John G. Bartlett, M.D., chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins. "We need to address the major obstacles that stand in the way of successfully containing the epidemic in these communities."

Conference participants will report the latest HIV research about clinical management, epidemiology, and social and policy issues. A discussion on the state of the AIDS epidemic is slated for February 23, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Several Hopkins faculty will present research findings at the conference. Among the highlights:

--a discussion of the psychiatric issues that HIV-positive individuals face, led by Glenn Treisman, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences;

--a summary of the latest clinical HIV/AIDS research from Richard Chaisson, M.D., a professor of medicine;

--an update of the DHHS/Kaiser Family Foundation anti-retroviral guidelines from John Bartlett, M.D., a professor of medicine;

--a synopsis of the specific clinical issues that HIV-positive women face, delivered by Jean Anderson, M.D., an associate professor of gynecology and obstetrics;

--an overview of the economic implications of managed care and HIV, summarized by Richard Moore, M.D., an associate professor of medicine; and

--a presentation on the connection between HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases from Jonathan Zenilman, M.D., an associate professor of infectious diseases.

To speak with one of the Hopkins presenters, contact me at (410)955-8665 or [email protected]. To attend the conference, contact Mark Short at Bristol-Myers Squibb at (609)987-2742.

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