News Release

UCSF HIV/AIDS web site honored by Smithsonian Institution

Grant and Award Announcement

University of California - San Francisco

A web site dedicated to HIV/AIDS and maintained by the University of California San Francisco was honored this week in Washington, DC, by the Smithsonian Institution.

HIV InSite, whose address is hivinsite.ucsf.edu, was recognized as one of five finalists in the medicine category for the 1999 Computerworld Smithsonian Awards.

The award citation to HIV InSite called it one of the most comprehensive AIDS-related information resources in the world. Data about the web site now becomes part of the permanent research collection on information technology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

The annual Computerworld Smithsonian Awards, begun in 1989, are designed to recognize groups and individuals who are using tools of the new information age to produce positive social, economic, and educational change.

Finalists were named in 10 areas, ranging from agriculture to transportation. Winners in each category were announced at a ceremony June 7. The winner in the medicine category was Pfizer, cited for a centralized database for managing clinical trials information.

Established by a UCSF team two years ago, HIV InSite has totaled close to 14 million hits from an international audience, with an average of two million hits a month from over 150 countries.

The web site is noted for its unbiased coverage of HIV/AIDS topics, including basic research, clinical trials update, and information on social, policy, and prevention issues. Organized as a one-stop shop for health care professionals, educators, and consumers, it is the only web site on HIV disease that is written, edited, and maintained by frontline AIDS experts from a health sciences institution.

One of its features is a question-and-answer service for readers, with each question receiving a personal response.

###

Nicolé Mandel is project manager of HIV InSite. Co-directors are Paul Volberding, MD, director of the UCSF Positive Health Program, and Thomas Coates, PhD, executive director of the UCSF AIDS Research Institute (ARI) and director the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS).

HIV InSite is a project of the UCSF Positive Health Program, formerly the AIDS Program at San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center (SFGHMC), and UCSF CAPS, both of which are programs of the UCSF ARI. The project is headquartered at SFGHMC.

HIV InSite is supported by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Co., Merck and Co., Pharmacia & Upjohn, Roxane Laboratories, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Stempel Foundation, National Institute of Mental Health, Abbott Laboratories, Ortho Biotech, Gilead Sciences, Celgene Corporation, Sun Microsystems, and Informix.



Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.