news & events
Premature aging seen as issue for AIDS survivors
By Lisa Leff, Associated Press
Having survived the first and worst years of the AIDS epidemic...Peter Greene is grateful to be alive. But a quarter-century after his own diagnosis, [he] wrestles with...debilitating health problems he once assumed he wouldn't grow old enough to see.
Full story on seattlepi.com (June 12, 2011)
UCSF Marks Three Decades of AIDS
By Lisa Cisneros, UCSF
June 5, 2011 marks three decades since the emergence of a mysterious virus that has since become the most devastating disease known to mankind—AIDS. Full story (June 6, 2011)
Other coverage of the 30th anniversary of AIDS
The Emerging Race to Cure HIV Infections
By Jon Cohen, Science
Steven Deeks, an HIV/AIDS clinician at [UCSF], who has put efforts to cure the disease on the front burner, says, “A lot of people were interested in cure research before the Berlin patient, but he is a proof of concept. That had a big impact on the field.” Full story in Science (May 13, 2011)
Groundbreaking trial results confirm HIV treatment prevents transmission of HIV
WHO/UNAIDS
Results announced today...show that if an HIV-positive person adheres to an effective antiretroviral therapy regimen, the risk of transmitting the virus to their uninfected sexual partner can be reduced by 96%. Press release (May 12, 2011)
HIV Rate in SF Could Be Cut Sharply with Expanded Treatment, Study Predicts
By Jeff Sheehy
If HIV-infected adults in San Francisco began taking antiretroviral treatments as soon as they were diagnosed, the rate of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men would be cut by almost 60 percent over five years, according to a new study by scientists at UCSF. News Release PDF (April 13, 2011)
Related story, San Francisco Chronicle (April 16, 2011)
Related story, Bay Area Reporter (April 14, 2011)
A New Push to Let HIV Patients Accept Organs That Are Infected
By Pam Belluck, New York Times
A potential source of kidneys and livers is off limits, because it is illegal to transplant organs from donors who test positive for the virus—even to others who test positive. But federal health officials and other experts are calling for repeal of the provision that bans such transplants. Full story in New York Times (April 11, 2011)
UCSF Ranks Among Nation's Best Medical, Nursing Schools
By Kristen Bole
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is ranked among the nation’s top four schools for medicine and nursing, according to a new survey conducted by U.S. News & World Report. UCSF ranked #1 for AIDS in the report’s medical specialty rankings. Full story (March 15, 2011)
Top scientists unite to develop global scientific strategy towards an HIV cure
International AIDS Society
More than 30 scientists gathered for a one-day meeting prior to the 18th CROI to launch an international working group on HIV reservoirs and strategies to control them. Under the auspices of the International AIDS Society, the scientists will guide the development of a global scientific strategy towards an HIV cure. Full story (February 28, 2011)
Sangamo's bet against AIDS: Gene therapy—Inspired by one man's cure, the biotech tweaks patients' genes
By Rob Waters, Bloomberg Businessweek
"This approach shows the most promise of any that I know of," says Jay A. Levy, a researcher at the University of California in San Francisco who helped identify HIV as the source of AIDS in 1984. "It's a terrific way of looking for a long-term functional cure for the virus." Full story on Bloomberg.com (February 10, 2011)
Sharing the news: Dating when you have an illness
By Jessica Yadegaran, Contra Costa Times
As the epidemic hits its 30th year, an HIV diagnosis isn't the death sentence it once was, says Mallory Johnson, an associate professor of medicine at the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention. People with HIV are living longer, falling in love and getting married. But it doesn't mean that the societal stigma is gone, he adds. Full story in San Jose Mercury News (February 2, 2011)
Advances on the AIDS Front
New York Times editorial
Promising scientific developments to prevent AIDS, not just treat its victims, have sparked hope among health officials, researchers and advocacy groups struggling to control the epidemic. Full editorial (December 2, 2010)
Use of HIV Medications Reduces Risk of HIV Infection in
Uninfected People
Gladstone News
In a finding with the potential to fundamentally change strategies to slow the global HIV epidemic, a new study called iPrEx shows that individuals at high risk for HIV infection who took a single daily tablet containing two widely used HIV medications experienced 43.8% fewer HIV infections. Full story on Gladstone News and full article in the New England Journal of Medicine (November 23, 2010)
New York Times story (November 23, 2010)
Related story, Time.com (December 9, 2010)
Commentary in Nature Medicine (April 7, 2011)
Kidney transplants found safe in HIV patients
By Gene Emery, Reuters
People infected with HIV can safely receive a kidney transplant, researchers reported on Wednesday. The finding, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, is good news for people with the virus, who are more prone to kidney disease, in part because of the drugs they must take to stay healthy. Full story on Reuters (November 18, 2010)
HIV Patients Do Well After Kidney Transplants: Study
By Randy Dotinga, HealthDay Reporter
A large, new study provides more evidence that people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, do almost as well on the survival front as other patients when they undergo kidney transplants. Full story on Bloomberg Businessweek (November 18, 2010)
Peter Hunt Receives HIVMA 2010 Leadership Award for HIV Research
HIV Medicine Association
Every year, HIVMA recognizes an HIV clinical educator and a researcher who have changed the way we think about HIV disease or our approach to patient care. Dr. Peter W. Hunt’s research has led to crucial discoveries about elevated immune activation during long-term HAART, persistent elevated immune activation in long-term control of HIV infection in the absence of therapy, and the negative consequences of this on both the immune system and the cardiovascular system. Full story on HIVMA (November 2010)
Advocates deserve room at the decision-making table
By Jeff Sheehy, Nature Medicine
ARI Communications Director Jeff Sheehy explains how patient advocates help create a biomedical research enterprise that is more attuned to the needs and preferences of the public. Full story and podcast in Nature Medicine (October 2010)
UCSF and Kenya Medical Research Institute Funded to Expand HIV Care and Support
A joint project of UCSF and the Kenya Medical Research Institute has received $7 million—the first award of a five-year grant that will total about $35 million—to expand its care and support of people affected by HIV/AIDS in Kenya. UCSF News Release PDF (August 17, 2010)
Study Pinpoints How a Normally Defensive Immune Response Can
Help HIV
Researchers have identified how a normal response to infection, one that usually serves to limit the amount of inflammation, actually contributes to disease progression and viral persistence in HIV-infected patients. UCSF News Release PDF (May 19, 2010)
Life span of HIV patients focus of UCSF symposium
By Lyanne Melendez, ABC 7 News
Scientists are exploring a medical mystery -- why HIV patients are aging prematurely or dying earlier from non-HIV ailments. Leading researchers were in San Francisco Tuesday to discuss the possible causes. Is it the treatment or the disease? Full story on ABC 7 News (May 18, 2010)
UCSF Symposium Seeks Insights Into HIV and Aging
Understanding the processes underlying the diminishing life span of HIV patients, even though they are responding well to anti-retroviral therapy, will be the focus of a daylong symposium on May 18. UCSF News Release PDF (May 12, 2010)
UCSF ranks among top five medical schools in new “U.S. News” survey
The UCSF School of Medicine is ranked among the top five medical schools in the nation in a new survey on “America’s Best Graduate Schools” conducted by U.S. News & World Report. UCSF News Release PDF (April 15, 2010)
SF health officials advise early treatment for people with HIV
By Liz Highleyman, Bay Area Reporter
A standing-room only audience packed Carr Auditorium at San Francisco General Hospital on Tuesday, April 13, to hear about the city's new policy recommending treatment for all people diagnosed with HIV regardless of CD4 T-cell count. Full story in Bay Area Reporter (April 15, 2010)
New Treatment Guidelines for HIV and AIDS Patients
Hosted by Kelly Wilkinson, KQED Radio News
Health officials in San Francisco are unveiling new treatment guidelines for HIV and AIDS patients—and there is some controversy surrounding the new policy. Full interview on KQED News Radio (April 5, 2010)
City Endorses New Policy for Treatment of HIV
By Sabin Russell, The New York Times
In a major shift of HIV treatment policy, San Francisco public health doctors have begun to advise patients to start taking antiviral medicines as soon as they are found to be infected, rather than waiting — sometimes years — for signs that their immune systems have started to fail. Full story in New York Times (April 2, 2010)
UCSF study finds clinic-based HIV prevention is effective in reducing risk behaviors
UCSF researchers have shown that delivering HIV prevention services to people living with HIV in clinical settings can sharply reduce their sexual risk behaviors. UCSF News Release PDF (March 24, 2010)
Positive Prevention Toolkit Aims to Assist Global Training of HIV/AIDS Caregivers
UCSF prevention experts have released the Positive Prevention Toolkit, a collection of resources designed to enable HIV/AIDS caregivers to provide prevention messages when interacting with HIV-positive patients. UCSF News Release PDF (March 9, 2010)
Greenspan to Receive American Association for Dental Research Scientist Award
UCSF Today
John Greenspan, BDS, PhD, distingished professor of oral pathology in the UCSF School of Dentistry and of pathology in the UCSF School of Medicine, has been selected to receive the 2010 American Association for Dental Research (AADR) Distinguished Scientist Award. Full story on UCSF Today (February 26, 2010)
UCSF wins $1.15M Gates Foundation grant for HIV study
San Francisco Business Times
UCSF received a $1.15 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study whether integrating family planning into HIV treatment and care in Kenya will increase contraceptive use and decrease unintended pregnancy among HIV-positive women. Full story in San Francisco Business Times (February 17, 2010)
Study Integrating Family Planning and HIV Treatment & Care Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
UCSF has received a $1.15 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to determine if integrating family planning into HIV treatment and care will increase contraceptive use and decrease unintended pregnancy among HIV-positive women. UCSF News Release PDF (February 16, 2010)
AIDS Research Institute Nominates First Endowed Chair
UCSF Philanthropy Insider
On Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, the HIV/AIDS community reached another milestone: Steve Morin, PhD, was nominated at UCSF for the Walter Gray Endowed Chair in HIV Science of the AIDS Research Institute (ARI). Full story in UCSF Philanthropy Insider (January 2010)
Study warns of drug-resistant HIV strains
By Erin Allday, San Francisco Chronicle
Drug-resistant strains of HIV could become more prevalent - even developing into mini-epidemics - in San Francisco over the next five years as patients live longer, healthier lives, according to a study by researchers at UCSF and UCLA. Full story in San Francisco Chronicle (January 15, 2010)
UCSF Study Finds Routine HIV Screening in Community Health Centers Boosts HIV Testing
UCSF researchers have that found routinely offering rapid HIV tests to patients in community health centers can significantly increase the number of patients screened for HIV. UCSF News Release PDF (December 14, 2009)
Event Pays Tribute to Pioneers and Newcomers in Fight Against AIDS
By Robin Hindery, UCSF Today
Members of the UCSF community gathered to reflect on the past, present and possible future of the fight against the devastating epidemic during World AIDS Day. Full story on UCSF Today (December 8, 2009)
Doctors Find Early Aging In HIV Patients
Reported by Kim Mulvihill, MD, CBS 5 San Francisco
In 1996 they called it "The Lazurus Syndrome"—people with AIDS rising from their deathbeds to lead normal lives again, thanks to new antiretroviral miracle drugs. But now American doctors are noticing a strange phenomenon in those survivors—with the potential to create a new AIDS crisis.
Full story on CBS 5 (December 1, 2009)
Federal Stimulus Funds Support Studies Geared to Improving HIV Care and Prevention
UCSF HIV researchers have received two NIH grants of $1 million each to study the use of web-based, patient controlled personal health records to improve health and HIV prevention outcomes for HIV positive patients. UCSF News Release PDF (November 5, 2009)
UCSF-led Cycling Team Raises $80,000 to Fund AIDS Research
By Robin Hindery, UCSF Today
For seven days in August, a team of 13 UCSF staff and supporters bicycled 560 miles through sweltering heat, driving rain and a tornado to raise $80,000 to support AIDS research at UCSF. Full story on UCSF Today (September 9, 2009)