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<p>John Greenspan, BDS, PhD, considers himself naturally curious. When he started seeing a rare form of cancer of the lymphatoid system in young San Francisco men during the early 1980s, he was intrigued.</p>
<p><span>Bill and Hillary Clinton, Sharon Stone, Kathleen Sebelius, Bill Gates and Elton John are a few of the headliners to speak this week at AIDS 2012, the XIX International AIDS Conference, which runs through July 27 in Washington, D.C.</span></p>
<p>A perspective published in the <em>New England Journal of Medicine</em> this week by professors at UCSF and the Johns Hopkins University asserts that it is now possible to begin to end the AIDS epidemic by widely and strategically applying existing tools.</p>
<p>The AIDS drug Truvada, approved this week for prevention of HIV infection in uninfected people at high risk, may benefit many uninfected women whose male partners have HIV, including pregnant women, who may be at higher risk.</p>
<p>The year 1982 was pivotal for Paul Volberding, MD. In the early days of the AIDS crisis, he was a talented research fellow who was getting ready to help launch San Francisco General Hospital & Trauma Center’s Ward 86, which would become the world’s first HIV/AIDS outpatient clinic. It opened its doors the following year.</p>
<p>On the eve of the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., UCSF's Jay Levy paused recently to reflect on HIV — a disease that has defined a generation, continues to plague the world and may yet be vanquished.</p>
<p><em>Time </em>magazine has named Gladstone and UCSF scientist Robert Grant, MD, MPH, to the <a href="https://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975_2111976_2112159,00.html" target="_blank">2012 TIME 100</a>, the magazine’s annual list of the world’s 100 most influential people.</p>
Physical violence, sexual abuse and other forms of childhood and adult trauma are major factors fueling the epidemic of HIV/AIDS among American women, who account for at least 27 percent of new U.S. cases.
President Barack Obama appointed UCSF AIDS expert Grant Colfax, MD, as the director of the Office of National AIDS Policy.
A drug once taken by people with HIV/AIDS, but long ago shelved after newer, modern antiretroviral therapies became available, has now shed light on how the human body uses its natural immunity to fight the virus — work that could help uncover new targets for drugs.
<p>Paul Volberding, MD, one of the world's leading experts on treatment for patients infected with HIV, the AIDS virus, became the new director of the AIDS Research Institute (ARI) at UCSF on Feb. 13.</p>
Tenofovir, one of the most effective and commonly prescribed antiretroviral medications for HIV/AIDS, is associated with a significant risk of kidney damage and chronic kidney disease that increases over time, according to a study of more than 10,000 patients led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and UCSF.
<p>Ellen Schell, RN, PhD, director of International Programs for the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance and an associate adjunct professor in the UCSF School of Nursing, reflects on the uphill battle to combat AIDS in Malawi, a tiny, impoverished country of 15 million.</p>
<p>The UCSF team came in third place overall in AIDS Walk San Francisco 2011 raising $55,000 in the annual event to benefit HIV/AIDS programs and services in the San Francisco Bay Area.</p>