AIGHD team takes leadership role in HIV prevention at one-of-a-kind conference

As the expression goes, knowledge is power and that’s exactly what the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD) team intends to share with colleagues at an upcoming conference.

The HIV Research for Prevention (HIV R4P 2018) is the only global scientific conference focused exclusively on the challenging and fast-growing field of biomedical HIV prevention research.

The event takes place October 21-25 in Madrid – it’s the first time the conference is being held in Europe.

More than 1,500 leaders in HIV prevention research, programs and policy are expected to attend, including members of AIGHD’s academic staff.

Dr. Cate Hankins is a member of the conference’s organizing committee and leads a number of HIV prevention-focused projects under AIGHD’s Infectious Disease Elimination research portfolio. As a leading expert in the area of HIV prevention, Dr. Hankins will be sharing her expertise in a number of sessions aimed at furthering HIV prevention research and development.

In advance of the conference, she’s co-leading the HIV 2018 Journalist Fellows Workshop, attended by 25 selected media scholars from around the world. The two-day program includes presentations from top HIV scientists and researchers and provides insight into the conference agenda so journalists can ensure they are attending sessions that are most meaningful for their audiences. AIGHD Academic staff Dr. Jintanat Ananworanich is also sharing her expertise during a presentation in the workshop.

“The event empowers this group of journalists, who have demonstrated their commitment to reporting on HIV, by getting them up-to-speed on a broad range of topics with respect to HIV including the global epidemic and prevention,” said Dr. Hankins, noting this type of workshop for journalists held at the R4P conferences was also hosted for the first time during the International AIDS Conference this past July in Amsterdam.

Dr. Hankins is also co-chairing an AVAC/AIGHD-hosted symposium on Good Participatory Practices (GPP) in biomedical HIV prevention trials. She co-created the UNAIDS/AVAC GPP guidelines with Mitchell Warren of AVAC. She is co-chairing a session on the future design of HIV prevention trials.

Visit the conference website for the complete program.