Miami CFAR Continues to Drive Change
Summary
- Panelists from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine highlighted breakthroughs at this year’s Miami Center for AIDS Research Symposium.
- The Miller School’s Susanne Doblecki-Lewis, M.D., moderated the symposium’s Miami Stories panel focused on local, collaborative research efforts.
- Candice Sternber, M.D., emphasized how culture and religion are significant within the Haitian community, and discussions surrounding HIV need to involve community leaders and encourage youth and senior programs.
While curing HIV/AIDS and stemming the spread of the virus remains a challenge, dozens of researchers at this year’s Miami Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Symposium, including panelists from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, highlighted breakthroughs aligned with the symposium’s theme, “Advances in HIV Prevention, Management and Cure.”
Savita Pahwa, M.D., professor of microbiology and immunology at the Miller School and director of the Miami CFAR, led the opening remarks with a strong message of hope.
“We have all witnessed the transformation over time when HIV changed from a death sentence to a manageable chronic condition,” Dr. Pahwa said. “Still, the battle is not over. While we face many challenges, the Miami CFAR will broaden its footprint and continue novel prevention strategies and community engagement to forward progress.”
Making strides against such a tricky virus can’t happen without investing in young researchers.
“Miami CFAR will continue to move the needle forward in the upcoming decades,” said Mario Stevenson, Ph.D., professor of medicine in the Miller School Division of Infectious Diseases and co-director of the Miami CFAR. “Part of this progress involves investing in our future researchers and forming strong partnerships.”
HIV Therapeutics
This year’s program featured five guest speakers covering sectors of HIV research. Sten Vermund, M.D., Ph.D., professor and dean of the University of South Florida College of Public Health, began the session with a baseline study to review the federal effort to reduce the virus by 75% by 2025 and 90% by 2030.
The study showed that HIV diagnostic rates generally declined in U.S. metropolitan areas. Regions included in the federal initiative experience the greatest decline. This effort has led to a drop in new HIV cases in the U.S. from 40,000 per year to 30,000.
“Our work is more helpful as a baseline for studying future prevention and care intervention,” Dr. Vermund said. “Future implementation research shows the promise of resource allocation to ensure that all regions can benefit from U.S., state and local government resources.”
Children are also susceptible to the virus. Deborah Persaud, M.D., professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University, presented on the HIV reservoir and HIV remission in children. Her study shows infants with prenatal infections can achieve virus remission if antiretroviral therapy is administered within five months of birth.
“We are at a pivotal time in HIV research,” Dr. Persaud said. “Science, investigation and translation are of utmost importance as the field is being revolutionized with the young faces in this room carrying the mission forward.”
Though a cure for HIV doesn’t exist, promising research continues. Guido Ferrari, M.D., professor and director of the CFAR immunology core at Duke University, spoke about his work with primate models in the Duke University Consortium for Innovative HIV/AIDS Vaccine and Cure Research.
Key Collaborations in Miami Populations
Susanne Doblecki-Lewis, M.D., professor of medicine, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and director of HIV prevention at the Miller School, moderated the symposium’s Miami Stories panel focused on local, collaborative research efforts.
The first panel featured engagement strategies used by the Miller School’s MACS/WIHS study and CAN Community Health to best serve the community, including offering needed services and speaking their language.
“To have an effect in the community, we first need to be engaged in it and see what their needs are,” said Deborah Jones Weiss, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Miller School. “Maintaining this relationship is important, where we feel comfortable having discussions and meeting the community where they are.”
The second panel focused on Miami-Dade’s Haitian community, which constitutes 8.2% of the county’s population and accounts for 13% of Miami’s HIV rates. Candice Sternberg, M.D., assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Miller School, emphasized how culture and religion are significant within the community. Discussions about HIV need to involve community leaders and encourage youth and senior programs.
“We have made significant progress in our work, with Miami leading the way in this remarkable transformation,” said Rana Chakraborty M.D., chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and the Adrienne Arsht Endowed Chair in Pediatric Clinical Research at the Miller School. “Moving forward, we will continue to build on this success.”
Fostering Young Researchers
Young HIV/AIDS researchers presented nearly 30 posters on different facets of HIV/AIDS research. Poster session winners included:
• Impactful Behavioral Health Project: Rosina Cianelli, Ph.D., SEPA+PrEP-BW Intervention for HIV Prevention Among Black Women
• Impactful Basic Science Project: Sebastian Fuchs, Ph.D., Transient Rapamycin Treatment Avoids Unwanted Host Immune Responses Toward AAV-delivered Anti-HIV Antibodies; Benjamin Bone, Ph.D., Immunological and Virological Correlates in Pregnant Women Living with HIV and Latent TB Infection
• Impactful Clinical Project: Candice Sternberg, M.D., Expanding the Miami MWCCS into the Community Utilizing a Mobile Research Unit: CONNECT (CONNECTing Communities in Translational Research)
Tags: AIDS, CFAR, Dr. Deborah Jones Weiss, Dr. Mario Stevenson, Dr. Rana Chakraborty, Dr. Savita Pahwa, Dr. Susanne Doblecki-Lewis, HIV, HIV research, Infectious diseases, Miami Center for AIDS Research