9/17/2019
WHAT: A series of talks will mark the 35th anniversary of the Pitt Men’s Study, a confidential research study of the natural history of HIV/AIDS, that has been running at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health since nearly the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It is part of the national Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS). With funding recently renewed by the National Institutes of Health, the Pitt Men’s Study will continue through at least 2026. Recently, the MACS has combined with the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) to study HIV infection in men and women across the United States. The talks at the Pitt Men’s Study commemoration event will cover lessons learned from the long-running study, a personal recount from an original study participant, and future research planned for the study. The event is free and open to the public.
WHEN: 8 to 11:30 a.m., Friday, Sept. 20, 2019.
WHERE: G23 Public Health Auditorium, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, 130 Desoto St., Pittsburgh, Pa., 15213.
WHY: Since enrolling its first participant in 1984, the Pitt Men’s Study has signed up 1,713 participants, 827 of whom are currently active in the study. The data that these Pittsburgh participants provided have contributed to many milestones — including antiretroviral therapy to delay the onset of AIDS and pre-exposure prophylaxis medications to prevent people from contracting HIV — that changed HIV from an acute, deadly illness to a chronic, manageable condition. Ongoing research at Pitt is exploring an immunotherapy “cure” that may allow people with HIV to stop taking daily medications to keep the virus in check.
WHO:
- Arthur Levine, M.D., senior vice chancellor, Pitt Schools of the Health Sciences, and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of Pitt’s School of Medicine.
- Charles Rinaldo, Ph.D., principal investigator of the Pitt Men’s Study, chair and professor of Pitt Public Health’s Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology.
- Frank Palella, M.D., Potocsnak Family Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
- William Buchanan, M.Mus., clinic and volunteer coordinator for the Pitt Men’s Study.
- Phyllis Tien, M.D., professor of medicine, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.
- Jeremy Martinson, D.Phil., co-principal investigator of the Pitt Men’s Study, assistant professor, Pitt Public Health’s Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology.
Note to Media: To cover this event, prearrangements must be made by contacting Allison Hydzik at 412-647-9975 or HydzikAM@upmc.edu.