My interest in HIV/AIDS started in 2004, when I discovered that both my mother and younger sister were HIV positive. Back then I was working at the District Hospital Bota Lime as a contract worker under the Heavy Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative.

I was the one who carried out the tests, and the sad news pushed me to deepen my knowledge of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Thanks to the scientific advancements and my counseling and guidance, my mother and sister are today using antiretroviral therapy (ART) and are in general good health.

After my training on HIV/AIDS testing and counseling my commitment grew steadily, and I tried to make sure that every single person who came for an HIV test received proper counseling after the response. More...

(Also) Nowadays, both private and public funding institutions require visibility and dissemination of the scientific results achieved. This is why researchers specialize more and more on scientific communication and journalists and editors are trying to improve their expertise on science. Not only developing research is important, but also translating research findings from scientific language into a language that is easier to understand for the general public. More...

Eight years ago I initiated research into the issue of HIV and aging. In the United States in five years time half of all PLWHA will be age 50 and older. Our research effort (Research on older Adults with HIV - ROAH) has contributed to put the issue on radar screens locally and internationally. It has caused the education efforts of ACRIA to shift to prevention and care issues of aging with HIV. The success of our research is measured by the number of presentations, published articles and media attention. Examples include ACRIA’s critical role during the Special Meeting on HIV and Aging held in October 2010 at the White House Office of National AIDS Policy; the first Satellite Session on HIV and Aging at the 2010 International AIDS Conference in Vienna that was co chaired by the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) HIV Director Dr. Gottfriend Hirnschall and the hundreds of media articles including features in the NY Times, BBC, CNN, CBS and AARP and of course publications in peer reviewed journals. More...

Like many IAS members, I simultaneously wear a few hats, and a day in my life involves aspects of all. I am Vice President of Research and Evaluation at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, one of the oldest community-based organizations responding to AIDS in the world. San Francisco AIDS Foundation sits on the border of two neighbourhoods in San Francisco hardest hit by HIV: the South of Market Area (SOMA) and the Tenderloin. Every week, we host 10 syringe access sites to provide sterile syringes and other safer injection equipment to prevent the spread of HIV, as well as hepatitis C. The foundation provides more than 2.4 million clean needles a year, resulting in an HIV transmission rate via intravenous drug use that is well below the national average. We distribute more than 550,000 condoms annually, and provide an array of substance use counselling services and community support programme. We also offer financial benefits counselling and assistance to keep HIV-positive people stably housed, because we know housing is prevention. More...