February 25, 2008

• A. CIRA SPONSORED AIDS SEMINARS
• B. CIRA MEETINGS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
• C. OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

A. CIRA SPONSORED AIDS SEMINARS

1. THIS WEEK! YACS @ CIRA Seminar Series
   
   Date/Time: 02/28/08, 12:00 P.M. – 1:00 P.M. (Brown bag lunch. Cookies and beverages provided.)
   Title: "Multidisciplinary Studies of Emergent Drugs: The Case of Boltushka in Ukraine"
   Speaker(s): Patricia Case, M.P.H., Sc.D., Senior Research Scientist, The Fenway Institute at Fenway Community Health
   Sponsor(s): Co-sponsored by CIRA, the Institution for Social and Policy Studies and the Yale School of Public Health's Division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases.
   Location: LEPH Room 608, 60 College Street, New Haven, CT
   Contact: Please RSVP to Betsy Williams (betsy.williams@yale.edu). For more information or directions, please call 764-4333, or visit the YACS @ CIRA Web site: http://cira.med.yale.edu/events/yacs.html.
2. Research in Progress Seminar Series
   
   Date/Time: 03/07/08, 2:00 P.M. – 3:30 P.M.
   Title: "Risk behavior and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS among employees in industrial organizations in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Petrozavodsk"
   Speaker(s): Zinaida Bodanovskaya, Psy. S., International Trainee
   Sponsor(s): Office of International Training (OIT), CIRA
   Location: CIRA, Ste. 200, Rm. 202, 135 College Street, New Haven, CT
   

B. CIRA MEETINGS/ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Peer Review
   Date/Time: 03/04/08, 10:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M.
   Location: CIRA, Ste. 200, Rm. 202, 135 College Street, New Haven, CT
   CIRA peer review provides an opportunity to enhance the quality of grant proposals and manuscripts written by CIRA scientists by sharing them with a multidisciplinary group of colleagues. The spirit of CIRA peer review is one of collegiality and respect; peer review is constructive rather than evaluative. Investigators use the feedback they receive as they see fit. We encourage you to have your proposal reviewed early in its development. If you would like to submit a grant proposal or manuscript for peer review, please contact Jon Atherton (jon.atherton@yale.edu; 764-4351).
2. NEW! Interdisciplinary Research Methods (IRM) Core Meeting
   Date/Time: 03/06/08, 10:30 A.M. - 11:30 A.M.
   Location: CIRA, Ste. 200, Rm. 202, 135 College Street, New Haven, CT

C. OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. AVAC report on the 15th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) - 3-7 February 2008
   
   This is an AVAC report on and discussion of select data from the 15th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) held February 3-7 in Boston. CROI is one of the major US-based AIDS science conferences and is held annually. This year’s gathering included results from several HIV prevention trials, and saw intense discussion and critical analysis of the AIDS vaccine field.
   
   Click here to download a PDF of the report
   For more information go to: http://avac.org/CROI08_report.htm.
2. The HIV/AIDS In Africa Reading Group
   
   Spring Term, 2008, Thursdays 6 – 8pm
   This reading group will canvass the literature related to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. The virus has ravaged the continent, creating millions of orphans and exposing a host of discriminatory laws and policies that adversely affect women and children. The readings focus on the intersection of population health, law and development, human and women’s right and intellectual property. The syllabus features Paul Farmer’s Pathologies of Power, Stephanie Nolan’s 28 Stories, Jeffrey Sachs’ The End of Poverty and several leading voices on the subject of TRIPS, global health and the emerging role of non-state actors. This reading group will dovetail with a Schell Center-sponsored symposium on the pandemic. Invited presenters include Stephen Lewis, the former UN Envoy for AIDS in Africa and Paula Donovan, the co-director of AIDS-Free World. The goal of the reading group is to develop a common vocabulary and an expansive understanding of the multidisciplinary nature AIDS while providing interested participants with a foundation to pursue independent research.
   
   Group Leader: The reading group is led by Noah Novogrodsky, a Schell Fellow, and the Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.
   Location: Yale Law School, Room 111, 127 Wall Street, New Haven, CT 06511
   Contact: For more information contact Professor Novogrodsky at nbn2@law.georgetown.edu or Megan Barnett at (203)432-4614 or Megan.Barnett@yale.edu.
3. CALL FOR PAPERS! "New Weapons Needed to Fight HIV"
   
   Deadline: March 3, 2008
   In August 2008, JAMA will publish a theme issue devoted to HIV/AIDS to coincide with the 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. As with the last HIV/AIDS theme issue in 2006, JAMA welcomes submission of evidence-based papers on HIV prevention and treatment for consideration. Papers received by March 3, 2008, will have the best chance for consideration for the 2008 HIV/AIDS theme issue.