HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Below: Recognizing a Legend, A Recap of Last Year's Annual Network Meetings, and Flyers for Recruiting Studies

2024 Annual Network Meetings Recap

ACTG Annual Meeting 2024

Some of the topics covered included:

• Women's health
• HIV Reservoirs
• HIV Comorbidities
• Hepatitis
• Tuberculosis
• Network subcommittees and opportunities for increased involvement
• Study updates including
• A5328 (STAIR-HIV)
• A5359 (Latitude Study)
• A5402 (COPE)
• A5426 (IPACE-HIV)
• A5403 (The GET IT RIgHT Study)

Find the full agenda here.

HPTN Annual Meeting 2024

Some of the topics covered included:

• Long-acting PrEP
• Reaching racial, sexual, and gender minorities in research
• Multi-purpose technologies (combined HIV & contraception)
• PrEP & Black women
• Stigma

Presentations on these and other topics can be found at the HPTN link here.

The George Washington University HPTN Clinical Research Site was awarded a top performance award. This award acknowledges a perfect shipment track record of all lab samples to the HPTN's lab center. Additionally, all lab data inquiries were addressed within 7 days.

We are super proud of our team!

Our very own Manya Magnus, PhD, MPH also moderated an informative panel on the HIV Prevention Toolkit developed by a team of international researchers. In Manya's own words, "I feel so fortunate to be able to work with the NIH-funded HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) as a part of our DC Clinical Trials Unit! I was delighted to moderate a session at the annual HPTN meeting. Session speakers included Dr. Zubair Lukyamuzi (Makerere University–Johns Hopkins University) who presented a new community-based protocol based in barber shops in Uganda; Dr. Jeffrey Stringer (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) who presented compelling findings regarding AI-enabled ultrasound to capture lay-provider measurements of birthweight outcomes in HIV-prevention studies; Dr. Romain Silhol (HPTN Modelling Centre and Imperial College) who described innovative uses of modeling for identification of priority populations for HIV epidemic responses, and Dr. Mackenzie Cottrell (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) who discussed research on on-demand PrEP dosing for women that will fill an urgent public health gap. I learned so much from these esteemed speakers and, as always, I learned so much at the meeting. I remain grateful to be a part of this exciting collaboration."

For the full panel presentation click here.

Other happenings in the DC CTU:

As an intervention component for HPTN 096: Building Equity Through Advocacy, faculty from the department of epidemiology at GWU School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology and staff members from Whitman-Walker participated in a workshop titled “Enhancing Culturally Responsive Services for Black Gay Men along the HIV Continuum." Photos from this event can be found below.

HPTN 096 includes a package of four interventions which address social, structural, institutional, and behavioral barriers to HIV prevention and care. The workshop is part of the “Culturally Responsive Intersectional Stigma Prevention” (CRISP) intervention, designed to stop HIV among Black men who have sex with men (MSM) in the southern US. The purpose of this workshop was to help healthcare facilities create an affirming, supportive, and culturally responsive healthcare environment for Black MSM seeking HIV prevention or treatment services. The GW HPTN CRS was also a part of the pilot electronic medical record abstraction for HPTN 096; the team was privileged to help support this important HPTN effort!

SAVE THE DATE

CAB Meeting February 27, 2025 @1pm

Recruiting Studies