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HIV Center News Briefs
Since its founding in 1987, the HIV Center has been sponsoring
Thursday morning Grand Rounds. Featuring presentations of
cutting-edge research by HIV Center investigators, as well as by
invited guests from around the world, Grand Rounds provide unique
insights into crucial research findings across a spectrum of HIV-related
issues concerning treatment, prevention, mental health, research
methodology, community collaboration, ethics, policy and many other
areas.
Those who are interested in listening to Grand Rounds but are
unable to attend in person now have a new option. Beginning in
February 2008, presentations have been regularly audio recorded.
These recordings are available on the HIV Center website via podcast,
along with any slides used by the speakers. Podcasts can be accessed
by clicking on "Grand Rounds" on the HIV Center homepage or by
clicking here. The Grand Rounds
page can also be used to sign-up for an automated feed of Grand
Rounds podcasts.
Work by Theo Sandfort
highlighted by media, award
 ABC News and the
Reuters News Service were among the media outlets to highlight
the findings from a study led by HIV Center investigator
Theo Sandfort, Ph.D.
The study of sexual behavior of young women and men in the U.S.,
entitled "Long-term health consequences of timing of sexual initiation:
Results from a national U.S. study," was published in the January
2008 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Reuters summarized
the research findings as indicating that "people who start having
sex at a younger or older than average age spear to be at greater
risk of developing sexual health problems." Problems facing early
initiators (age 14 or younger) included certain risk factors for
STDs, such as high number of sexual partners, and a history of
having sex under the influence of alcohol. The more novel finding
was that older initiators (age 22 or older) also were more likely
to experience difficulty maintaining an erection and reaching orgasm.
The article noted "Although our findings support an association
between early initiation and long-term STD risk, they also suggest
a more complicated picture of sexual functioning. Delaying sexual
activity may "create health risks by impeding development of the
emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal skills that are crucial
to satisfactory sexual functioning and general well-being." The
paper was based on a pilot study, funded by the HIV Center, on
the theme of "Exploring pathways to adult sexual adjustment: Secondary
data analysis."
In May 2008, Dr. Sandfort's overall body of scientific work
was also honored by the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality,
which presented him with its "John Money Award," named for a pioneering
scholar of sexuality. The award citation notes that: "Over the
span of several decades, Dr. Sandfort has significantly furthered
our understanding of human sexuality through numerous basic and
applied empirical investigations in the field of sexuality and
health both nationally and internationally. His groundbreaking
work has explored the topics of sexual orientation, sexual behavior
and attitudes, determinants of health behavior, mass media and
other interventions, and the epidemiology of mental disorders."
HIV Research Centers Consortium Conference
The New York HIV Research Centers Consortium sponsored its fourth
annual Scientific Conference on the theme of "Living with HIV:
Challenges for Interdisciplinary Research." Two morning panels
emphasized the theme of "Behavioral and Medical Perspectives on
HIV Infection" and "Access to HIV Care." The afternoon panels focused
on "Adherence and Continuity of HIV Medical Care: Special Populations"
and "Trends in Funding Research on HIV-Positive Populations." Conference
presenters included academics and practitioners from a variety
of research centers, community-based organizations, and medical
facilities. For abstracts of all the presentations,
click here.
The Consortium is a collaborative project of 24 HIV research
centers designed to facilitate inter-institutional, multi-disciplinary
collaborations by scientists affiliated with HIV research centers
in the Greater New York area. It is led by HIV Center Director
Anke Ehrhardt, Ph.D.,
Sherry Deren, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Drug Use and HIV
Research at NDRI. Inc., and Jack DeHovitz, M.D., M.P.H., Director
of the HIV Center for Women and Children at the SUNY Downstate
Medical Center. Click here
to learn more about the Consortium.
Ellen Stover of NIMH Speaks at NYSPI
 Ellen Stover of NIMH with HIV Center
Director Anke Ehrhardt
Ellen Stover, Ph.D., Director of the Division of Mental Disorders,
Behavioral Research, and AIDS at the National Institute of Mental
Health (NIMH) presented at Adult Psychiatry Grand Rounds at the
New York State Psychiatric Institute on Friday, December 13. Her
presentation, entitled "Advocacy, Urgency and Set Asides: Halting
an Epidemic Amid Stigma and Complacency," offered a historical
overview of the NIMH Response to AIDS. Stover, a long-time programmatic
leader in HIV research, has worked with the HIV Center since its
inception.
Her presentation focused on three major periods in the history
of AIDS as seen from the perspective of NIMH: 1981-1989, when researchers
were groping for a basic understanding of the impact of the new
disease; 1990-1997, when significant advances were made in mental
health aspects of HIV infection; and the period 1998 to the present,
which has focused on application and dissemination of knowledge.
New South Africa Grants
 Two HIV Center
investigators have been awarded grants from NIH to extend their
US-based research into South Africa.
Robert Remien, Ph.D.
is principal investigator of the SMART Couples Study, a proven
intervention that employs partner support to improve HIV-positive
people's adherence to often complex and challenging HIV medication
regimens. His new SMART-SA program will develop a multimedia intervention
in South Africa that can be used by non-professional peer counselors
to help patients understand the importance of following medication
regimens as prescribed and maintain high levels of
 adherence with the assistance
of spouses, friends, partners, or other people who are close to
the patient.
Dr. Claude Ann Mellins
was funded to provide a family-based intervention for perinatally
infected children in South Africa. The Collaborative HIV Prevention
and Adolescent Mental Health Projects (CHAMP) was originally developed
by Dr. Mary McKay of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine for uninfected
youths and subsequently adapted for perinatally HIV-infected youths
in the US with a goal to prevent risk behavior and promote mental
health (CHAMP+). The new study will adapt, refine, and pilot CHAMP+,
examining the preliminary impact of CHAMP+ SA on family/social
process variables that promote behavioral health outcomes among
HIV-affected youth in South Africa.
World AIDS Day
 HIV Center staff member Jan Baer (seated)
with Fellows Jose
Bauermeister (seated) and Kate Elkington at the outreach table
To mark World AIDS Day 2007, the HIV Center co-sponsored two
outreach and information tables with the International Center for
AIDS Treatment and Prevention Programs (ICAP). The tables, one
in the New York State Psychiatric Institute and one in the Mailman
School of Public Health, featured a wide variety of materials about
HIV prevention and care, as well as about the work of the HIV Center
and ICAP. World AIDS Day has been held on December 1 every year
since 1988 to promote understanding of HIV/AIDS and support for
those living with the virus. The HIV Center provides information
and outreach each year to raise awareness about research efforts
to combat the epidemic.
Emerging
Leaders from South Africa are Trained at HIV Center
 The first cohort of the MAC AIDS Fund
Leadership Initiative
Twelve emerging leaders in HIV/AIDS prevention
from South Africa arrived at the HIV Center on February 1 to begin
an intensive HIV prevention training program as part of the M.A.C AIDS Fund Leadership Initiative
(PI: Anke A. Ehrhardt, Ph.D.; Co-PI Thomas J. Coates, Ph.D.) The
12 leaders were identified through a nationwide selection process
as being among South Africa's most promising innovators in HIV
prevention. The Leadership Initiative is being co-sponsored by
the UCLA Global Program in Health, which is directed by Dr. Coates.
It is generously funded by the M.A.C AIDS Fund, which was established
by M.A.C Cosmetics in 1994 to support
men, women, and children affected by HIV/AIDS globally. Leadership
Initiative participants worked closely with HIV prevention experts
in New York during February and March to develop targeted prevention
programs which they will implement in South Africa throughout 2008.
The second cohort of the Leadership Initiative will arrive at the
HIV Center in October.
New Books by Center authors
 Two investigators
from the HIV Center's Ethics and Policy Core recently published
new books. Ethics Core Director
Robert Klitzman's
When Doctors Become Patients offers a "systematic, integrated
look" at what the experience is like for doctors who get sick,
and what it can teach us about our current health care system and
more broadly, the experience of becoming ill. Weaving together
first-person accounts of the experience of doctors who fall ill
and see the other side of the coin, the accounts reveal how dramatic
this transformation can be-- a spiritual journey for some, a radical
change of identity for others, and for some a new way of looking
at the risks and benefits of treatment options."
 Ethics Core Co-Director
Ronald Bayer, Ph.D. is
the co-author (with Gerald Oppenheimer) of Shattered Dreams?:
An Oral History of the South African AIDS Epidemic. Based on
interviews with doctors and nurses in both urban and rural areas,
the book captures the experience  of health care workers as they confronted
indifference from colleagues, opposition from superiors, unexpected
resistance from the country's political leaders, and material scarcity
that was both the legacy of Apartheid and a consequence of the
global power of the international pharmaceutical industry. Bayer
is also a co-author (with Amy L. Fairchild and James Colgrove)
of Searching Eyes: Privacy, the State, and Disease Surveillance
in America. The first history of public health surveillance
in the United States, this volume spans more than s century of
conflict and controversy. The authors situate the tension inherent
in public health surveillance in a broad social and political context
to show how the changing meaning and significance of privacy have
marked the politics and practice of surveillance.
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