January 25 film and discussion to focus on HIV/AIDS in Africa

By Jennifer O'Brien

## What:

UCSF Public Affairs is sponsoring a screening of the documentary film “Miss HIV” and a panel discussion with UCSF experts about HIV/AIDS prevention strategies in Africa. The event is free and open to the public.

Media are invited to cover.

The documentary examines, in part, the western medical community’s varying approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa in the context of HIV/AIDS stigma. The film uses the backdrop of a controversial yearly Miss HIV beauty contest in Botswana to examine prevention approaches. Norman Hearst, MD, PhD, UCSF professor of family and community medicine, is profiled in the film.

The film is stylistically edgy and is designed to appeal to a youthful audience. Additional information about the film is available at
www.misshiv.com

## When:

Friday, January 25
6:00 p.m.

## Where:

Cole Hall - Medical Sciences Building
513 Parnassus Avenue, UCSF Campus

## Panelists:

* David Bangsberg, MD, MPH, UCSF AIDS Research Institute
* Gertrude Khumalo-Sakutukwa, MMedsc, UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies
* Norman Hearst, MD, PhD, UCSF Family and Community Medicine
* Prasanna Jagannathan, MD, resident, clinical scholar, UCSF Global Health Sciences
* Moderator: Shipra Shukla, UCSF Public Affairs

## Biographical Information:

David Bangsberg, MD, MPH: He is an associate professor of medicine at UCSF and primary care physician for HIV-positive patients at SFGH. His research program in rural Uganda focuses on structural and behavioral barriers to sustained HIV care, with particular interest in social capital, stigma, food access and transportation. He leads the Family Treatment Fund, which was the first free HIV treatment program in southwest Uganda (http://familytreatmentfund.ucsf.edu). FTF now provides HIV treatment to individuals on wait lists for multinational programs and during pharmacy stock-outs. FTF also sponsors several microfinance programs to provide sustainable income to cover transport costs for access to HIV treatment.

Gertrude Khumalo-Sakutukwa, MMedSc: Her research interests focus on HIV prevention strategies, voluntary counseling and testing, community-level interventions, culturally tailored interventions, social science interventions and women-initiated HIV prevention methods. Having worked at the University of Zimbabwe for nearly a decade, she is knowledgeable about gender and power dynamics as related to HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa. Current research projects include a mobile testing unit and a National Institute of Mental Health phase III, randomized, controlled trial in sub-Saharan Africa and Thailand.

Norman Hearst, MD, PhD: His interests focus on HIV and AIDS epidemiology and prevention, expanding research capacity in developing countries and international health. In addition to treating patients, he is director of the UCSF Family and Community Medicine Research Fellowship Training Program and a professor in the UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Prasanna Jagannathan, MD: He is a third-year resident in the SFGH/UCSF primary care internal medicine program and plans on pursuing a career in global infectious diseases. His research interests are broad and have included community-based treatment of HIV and antiretroviral adherence, mechanisms of immunologic control of HIV, and HIV coinfection with malaria, tuberculosis and cytomegalovirus. He recently returned from Kampala, Uganda, where he studied the safety and tolerability of anti-malarial treatment in Ugandan children. Next year, he will be a chief resident in internal medicine at UCSF, and will continue his training through an infectious diseases fellowship.