The UCSF AIDS Research Institute (ARI) is sponsoring a special symposium on vaccine development as part of "World AIDS Day" activities on Tuesday, December 1.
Titled "On the Road to an HIV Vaccine," the symposium is free and open to the public. The event is scheduled for 2:00-5:00 pm in Cole Hall, 513 Parnassus, on the UCSF campus. Interested persons should register by phone at 415-597-UCSF or by e-mail to ari@psg.ucsf.edu. A reception will follow for all those attending.
"Innovative, community-based frontline prevention efforts in the U.S. have greatly reduced the spread of HIV, but the infection continues to advance in other communities and nations. In the developing world, the disease continues unchecked, and a vaccine is likely to be the only hope for eradication to save the next generation," said Thomas J. Coates, PhD, director of the UCSF ARI.
The symposium program is designed "to reflect on the past, examine present challenges, and define a path for the future," he added.
Neal Nathanson, MD, the newly named director of the Office of AIDS Research of the National Institutes of Health, will lead off the event as keynote speaker. He will address the question, "Why is an AIDS vaccine so hard to develop?" Appointed to his current post in May of this year, Nathanson has made HIV vaccine development a high priority and increased the resources devoted to this effort. He has a long history of work in polio vaccines.
Lawrence K. Altman, MD, medical correspondent for The New York Times, will give a presentation on "Perspectives on the Challenges of the AIDS Vaccine." One of the few medical doctors working fulltime as a daily newspaper reporter, Altman has been with the Times since 1969 and is a former chief of the epidemiology and immunization program of the U.S. Department of Public Health.
Jay Levy, MD, UCSF professor of medicine and co-discoverer of HIV in 1983, will moderate a symposium panel discussion on "The Current State of the Vaccine." Under the auspices of the UCSF ARI, Levy has organized a campus-wide effort on vaccine research. Panelists will include UCSF faculty members Susan Buchbinder, MD; James O. Kahn, MD; Bernard Lo, MD; and Raul Andino-Pavlovsky, PhD.
The symposium will conclude with a preview showing of clips from a new video about young people living with HIV. Titled "It Could Be You," the video was produced by Jako/Guberman in collaboration with MTV, which will air it the evening of December 1.
The symposium is sponsored in part by Glaxo Wellcome, and the reception will be hosted by Chiron Corporation.
As part of the day's activities, UCSF and the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco will co-sponsor a luncheon program on "Hope for an AIDS Vaccine." The discussion will feature Nathanson and Altman, with moderator Margaret Chesney, PhD, UCSF professor of medicine and co-director of the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies. Open to the public, the event will take place at the Club, 595 Market Street in San Francisco. For information and reservations, call 415-597-6705.
Other events for "World AIDS Day" will include an observance at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park. Special guests at the program will include actress/activist Judith Light, writer Armistead Maupin, and UCSF ARI director Coates. The program is scheduled for 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Grove, across from the tennis courts at Bowling Green and Middle East Drive. The public is invited. For more information, call 415-263-0387.
Note to the media: Reporters are invited to cover all events. Please call Corinna Kaarlela in the UCSF/SFGHMC News Office at 415-476-3804. There will be a reserved section for media representatives at the symposium in Cole Hall.