U.S. Conference on AIDS – Highlights from Day 2
Advances in HIV Cure Research
The presentation, “Toward a Cure for HIV: The Need for Science, Collaboration, and Advocacy”, was moderated by Dr. Jack Whitescarver, Director of the Office of AIDS Research at the National Institutes of Health, and featured a keynote speech by Dr. Sharon Lewin
Dr. Whitescarver began his remarks reflecting on how essential the collaboration between the HIV community and researchers has been on numerous scientific fronts including planning and designing clinical trials, translating research findings to clinical settings, and developing and updating treatment guidelines. This collaboration has brought about major advances in HIV treatment and prevention over the decades, serving as a model for other diseases, he noted. The community-research collaboration continues to inform NIH research in such areas as the side effects of long term HIV treatment, premature aging, and cardiovascular complications experienced by people living with HIV as well as examinations of treatment outcomes by sex, race, gender, age, and pregnancy status. Recent years have also brought advances in therapeutics research and the scientific understanding of how HIV establishes itself, hides in the body, and remains latent. These findings have been critical precursors to enabling researchers to start to talk about developing a strategy toward an HIV cure. Dr. Whitescarver pointed out that this high priority area is now a key section in the FY 2013 Trans-NIH Plan for HIV-Related Research. Continued collaboration with the HIV community will be vital to the advancement of this research, he concluded.
Dr. Sharon Lewin. Photo credit: Ben Carter/NMAC
Tomorrow, we’ll share highlights of some of Tuesday’s key messages from USCA.
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