Summer 2018

August 2018

Dear UCSF ARI Community,

I hope everyone had a relaxing summer! As we start the new academic year, I want to share some of the achievements made by our UCSF family in the last quarter around the globe.

At the 2018 International AIDS Conference, held in Amsterdam in late July, our clinicians and researchers were well-represented across poster presentations, in speaking on panels, and while leading pre-conference sessions. Read our full conference report to get an idea of some of the most compelling findings and reactions, with insights from some of our top investigators.

As usual, summer hummed with other events here in the Bay Area. AIDS Walk San Francisco was an invigorating success, raising over $1.5 million to benefit programs and organizations serving those living with and affected by HIV in San Francisco. Proudly, the UCSF ARI/IGHS team raised over $20,000, coming in first place among the UCSF teams (fostering a little healthy competition!).

Fall also welcomes our new class of HIV/Infectious Disease fellows. This year five new trainees join the ranks in the Division of HIV, Infectious Disease, and Global Medicine. Drs. Amy Baca, Jehan Budak, Andrew Kerkhoff, Michael Peluso, and Sarah Puryear arrived with diverse backgrounds in clinical care, but all with a dedication to ameliorating the spread of HIV and associated infectious disease. We’re thrilled to have them on board and eagerly anticipate their contributions to the field and the UCSF family.

Our spring features and early summer features in our Investigator Profiles series included Drs. Matt Spinelli and Nadia Roan, showcasing the breadth of our clinician and basic science research. Dr. Spinelli has been featured a number of times in recent months for his work relating to PrEP uptake and engagement in care in San Francisco. Dr. Roan, recently promoted to Associate Professor in the Department of Urology as she reached her ten year anniversary at UCSF/Gladstone, continues to forge new pathways of discovery in HIV transmission research, contributing to multiple cure efforts within the UCSF community.

After taking a summer hiatus, we’ll return in September by featuring some of our global clinician researchers tackling cancer and HIV in developing countries, and those who spearhead the statistical and biometric analyses of our data.

Coming up later this autumn is our annual amfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research Summit, to be held on Wednesday, November 28 on our Mission Bay campus. An opportunity to showcase some of the most exciting cure research in the field of HIV, the summit is open to the public at no cost. More information will be posted on the ARI site in the coming weeks, and we encourage you all to register.

As always, I suggest exploring our News and Events pages as well as our social media channels, to stay abreast of what’s happening now at the ARI as well as what’s to come.

I look forward to sharing further updates later this fall, and introducing you to next season’s events.

Paul Volberding, MD

Director, AIDS Research Institute