March 12, 2007

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

A. CIRA SPONSORED AIDS SEMINARS

1. NEW! YACS @ CIRA Seminar Series
   03/29/07, 12:00 P.M. – 1:30 P.M. (Lunch included)
   Title: "Lost in Translation: The Path from Boyhood Sexual Abuse to Adult Sexual Risk"
   Speaker(s): William C. Holmes, M.D., M.S.C.E., Assistant Professor of Medicine, General Internal Medicine, University of Pennsylvania SOM
   Sponsor(s): CIRA and the Institution for Social and Policy Studies
   Location: CIRA, Ste # 200, 135 College Street, New Haven, CT
   Contact: Please RSVP to elizabeth.eocaci@yale.edu. For more information or directions, please call 764-4333, email leif.mitchell@yale.edu or visit the YACS@CIRA Web site: http://cira.med.yale.edu/events/yacs.html
2. NEW! Research in Progress Seminar Series
   03/30/07, 1:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M.
   Title: "Eliminating the AIDS Stigma in Chinese Hospitals"
   Speaker(s): Liping Ma, M.D., International Trainee
   Sponsor(s): Office of International Training (OIT)
   Location: CIRA, Ste # 200, 135 College Street, New Haven, CT
   

B. CIRA MEETINGS/ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. THIS WEEK! Peer Review
   03/13/07, 10:00 A.M. – 11:30 A.M.
   Location: CIRA, Ste # 1B, 40 Temple Street, New Haven, CT
   NOTE: Materials for peer review must be submitted one week in advance of the peer review meeting. If you would like to have a manuscript reviewed, please contact Debra Tompkins (debra.tompkins@yale.edu). If you would like to have a proposal reviewed as part of the process of affiliating your research project with CIRA, please contact Kim Blankenship (kim.blankenship@yale.edu). We encourage you to have your proposal reviewed early in its development. The purpose of peer review is to enhance the quality of proposals and publications from CIRA scientists by allowing them to benefit from the Center's expertise. The spirit of CIRA's peer review program is one of collegiality and respect; it is meant to be constructive rather than evaluative. Investigators use the feedback they receive as they see fit.
2. THIS WEEK! Community Research (CR) Core Meeting
   03/14/07, 9:00 A.M. – 10:30 A.M.
   Location: CIRA, Ste # 1B, 40 Temple Street, New Haven, CT
3. THIS WEEK! Community Advisory Board (CAB) Meeting
   03/15/07, 10:00 A.M. – 11:30 A.M.
   Location: CIRA, Ste # 1B, 40 Temple Street, New Haven, CT
4. NEW! Law, Policy & Ethics (LPE) Core Meeting
   03/22/07, 11:00 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.
   Location: CIRA, Ste # 200, 135 College Street, New Haven, CT
5. NEW! Peer Review
   03/28/07, 10:00 A.M. – 11:30 P.M.
   Location: LEPH, Room 108, 60 College Street, New Haven, CT
   
6. DUE THIS WEEK! Innovative Pilot Projects In Priority Areas of HIV/AIDS Prevention Research sponsored by CIRA. The concept paper is due by 3/16/07.
   
   The purpose of this RFA is to stimulate innovative research in two specific priority areas:
   
   
   1. Structural interventions to enhance recent advances in HIV prevention and treatment. Advances that would be considered under this priority area include: expansion of ARV treatment in resource poor countries, pre-exposure ARV prophylaxis (PREP), detection of and response to acute HIV infection, microbicides, acyclovir treatment of HSV-2 infection, circumcision, and early or rapid detection of HIV infection. Research under this priority area may consist of studies of the impact of structural interventions (e.g. policies, the organization of health service systems, community mobilization) to promote these recent advances, as well as studies aimed at identifying the structural factors that may hinder or facilitate their promotion.
   2. Prevention for HIV positives, with a focus on detection and management of comorbid conditions, such as mental health disorders, substance use (including alcohol and prescription drugs), tuberculosis, hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, etc. Research under this priority area may include descriptive studies, studies to identify facilitators of and barriers to successful prevention, formative research in preparation for intervention studies, and pilot intervention studies.
   CIRA has $40,000 available to fund one or two projects, with a maximum award of $25,000. Funding will be provided for up to one year, with the expectation that research results will serve as the basis for an investigator-initiated grant application to an external funding agency. All investigators are eligible to apply, irrespective of their seniority or previous HIV research experience. However, we especially encourage proposals from junior investigators, women, and underrepresented minorities. We welcome proposals for projects undertaken in either domestic or international settings.
   
   Contact: For full information about the application process please go to http://cira.med.yale.edu/opportunities/pilotrfa_pas.html.

C. OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. DUE THIS WEEK! Crossroads II: Community-Based Collaborative Research for Social Justice International Conference
   Deadline for proposal submission is March 15, 2007. Conference is 6/7/07-6/9/07
   
   Crossroads II: Community-Based Collaborative Research for Social Justice will focus on the promise, pitfalls, and "best practices" of CBCR to address disparities and inequities in the arenas of health, education, artistic and cultural representation, development, and the environment. Successful CBCR relies on different perspectives to look critically at the ways in which the research is - and can be - used to promote social justice in communities worldwide. We invite you to join an interdisciplinary network of people who are interested in the use of CBCR to reduce social inequities in their communities. We encourage submissions from researchers, community partners, artists, activists, service providers, health professionals, educators, students, policymakers, funders and others who address CBCR and social justice issues. We anticipate that participants will present project-based case studies, share innovative community action based on research and community input, and offer critical reflection pertaining to the overall conference theme.
   Sponsor(s): The Institute for Community Research and co-sponsored by CIRA
   Location: Hartford, CT
   Contact: For complete information please go to the Conference Web site.
2. TODAY! "Present Crisis/Future Hope: AIDS and African-American Women"
   03/12/07, 5:00 P.M. - 6:00 P.M.
   A discussion focusing on the AIDS crisis within the African-American community and also in Nigeria. In the Adanti Student Center Theater, Julie Anderson from AIDS Project New Haven will discuss current statistics and their implications, and what the Center for Disease Control is doing to make a shift. Julie Anderson will also discuss the importance of the SISTA Program (Sisters Informing Sisters on Topics about AIDS). SCSU Public Health graduate student Morenike Akpo will discuss the parallel factors contributing to the AIDS epidemic in her home country of Nigeria and in the United States.
   Sponsor(s): Co-sponsored by the Women's Center, Black Student Union, Multicultural Center, and Zeta Phi Beta.
   Location: Institute for Community Research, 2 Hartford Square West, Suite 100, 146 Wyllys St., Hartford, CT, 06106. Free parking on Wyllys St.
   Contact: For more information, call the SCSU Women's Center at (203) 392-5786.
3. THIS WEEK! The Hartford HIV Forum - "Revised Recommendations for HIV Testing of Adults, Adolescents, and Pregnant Women in Health-Care Settings"
   03/13/07, 12:00 P.M. - 1:30 P.M. (Lunch will be provided)
   Speaker(s): Steven I. Aronin, MD FACP, Medical Director, Waterbury Hospital Infectious Disease Clinic; Assistant Hospital Epidemiologist, Waterbury Hospital Health Center.
   Sponsor(s): The Institute for Community Research (ICR) and CT AIDS Education & Training Center (CAETC)
   Location: Institute for Community Research, 2 Hartford Square West, Suite 100, 146 Wyllys St., Hartford, CT, 06106. Free parking on Wyllys St.
   Contact: Please RSVP to: (860) 278-2044. For additional information, visit their Web site at: www.incommunityresearch.org
4. NEW! HIV in 2007: New Agents and Strategies for Treatment"
   03/23/07, 1:00 P.M. Registration, 1:30 – 5:00 P.M. Program
   HIV is a chronic disease that typically requires long term treatment. Treatment-experienced patients may have developed drug resistance mutations and limited treatment options. Therefore, it is important for HIV clinicians to be aware of new agents and strategies for treating patients. If you have clinical cases that you wish to have discussed by Drs. Gallant and Gulick, please email them to: Dr. Krystn Wagner at krystn.wagner@yale.edu by Monday, March 19, 2007.
   Faculty: Roy Gulick, M.D., M.P.H.; Joel Gallant, M.D.; Krystn Wagner, M.D., Ph.D.
   Sponsor(s): The Yale AIDS Program and CT AIDS Education & Training Center (CAETC)
   Location: Yale School of Nursing, 100 Church St. South, New Haven, CT. Parking on premises. Please enter YSN on the upper level at the blue canopy
   Contact: Please RSVP to Karina Danvers, 203-737-1578, karina.danvers@yale.edu
5. NEW! Health Policy and Administration Seminar: "Planning for Pandemic Flu: Lessons from the Past and Models of the Future"
   03/26/07, 12:00 Noon
   Speaker(s):: Mark Lipsitch, Professor of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health
   Sponsor(s): Yale School of Public Health
   Location: LEPH Room 102, 60 College St., New Haven, CT
   Contact: For more information or a copy of Dr. Lipsitch's paper, please contact Erika.Martin@yale.edu.
6. NEW! Northeast Community Forum: "Nutrition, Your Heart and HIV"
   03/26/07, 12:00 P.M. – 1:30 P.M. (Lunch will be provided)
   Speaker(s):: Karina Danvers, M.A., Director of CAETC
   Sponsor(s): Northeast Community HIV Forum, CT AIDS Education & Training Center (CAETC)
   Location: WRCC, 872 Main Street, Willimantic, CT
   Contact: If you are coming please call Belinda Clark, 860-423-4534, ext. 327.
7. NEW! 2006-2007 Arthur Allen Leff Fellowship Lecture: "Freeing Scientific Culture: The Fight to Provide Public Access To Results The Public Finances"
   03/26/07, 4:30 P.M.
   Speaker(s):: Dr. Harold Varmus, President and CEO, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Co-founder, Public Library of Science
   Sponsor(s): The Dean and Faculty of Yale Law School
   Location: Yale Law School, Room 127, 133 Wall Street, New Haven, CT
   Note: Reception to follow in the Alumni Reading Room
8. NEW! Working Group - Addiction, Mental Health and HIV/AIDS
   Topic: "Philosophical Underpinnings of Harm Reduction"
   03/28/07, 11:30A.M. – 1:00 P.M.
   Speaker(s):: Philip Alcabes, Associate Professor, Hunter College School of Health Sciences, New York, NY
   Sponsor(s): Yale University's Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics
   Location: 1st floor conference room, 87 Trumbull St., New Haven, CT
   Contact: For more information or luncheon reservations, please contact jonathan.moser@yale.edu.
9. The Bridgeport Community HIV Forum - "Crystal Meth and HIV"
   03/28/07, 12:30 P.M. - 2:00 P.M. (Lunch will be provided)
   Speaker(s): Gloria Searson, Advocacy Relations Manager, Manhattan & New England
   Sponsor(s): CT AIDS Education & Training Center (CAETC) and the Evergreen Network
   Location: First Baptist Church, Brown Room, 126 Washington Ave., Bridgeport, CT
   Contact: You must RSVP to be assured lunch: CAETC@yale.edu or (203) 737-2312 or to the Evergreen Network at 203-576-0677
10. A 24-hour, non-credit on-line course in HARM REDUCTION
    April 23 to June 15, 2007 (8 weeks) Deadline for early bird registration: 4/4/07
    The course designed to introduce service providers, administrators and policy makers to the basic principles, philosophy and application of Harm Reduction. This on-line course will be of value to a broad range of practitioners / service providers, administrators and policy advisors / analysts interested in gaining a better understanding of Harm Reduction and of how to implement Harm Reduction policy and practice within their organizations and communities.
    Sponsor(s): Professional Enrichment Program, The Division of Continuing Education, York University and the Faculty of Education, York University
    Contact: For more information: Marina DeBona-Ross, mdebona@yorku.ca, (416) 650-8049, Web site: http://www.canadianharmreduction.com.
    To register, visit: www.atkinson.yorku.ca/harmreduction
11. Arts and Public Health in Action: Study of HIV/AIDS in Swaziland
    Yale Summer Session class offered in Swaziland. Application deadline: April 2
    Faculty: Rebecca Rugg and Kaveh Khoshnood
    Theater practice and Epidemiology come together in partnership to provide a vital, hands-on intervention into the HIV/AIDS pandemic in southern Africa. We will travel to Swaziland to collaborate with local artists who are using theater as a mode of discourse in the fight against HIV/AIDS; under the guidance of master teacher Ntare Mwine we will conduct theater workshops with local secondary school students; we will work in the field with local NGOs. Over five weeks, this practical work will amplify and deepen our classroom study of theater as a mode of social and political intervention and of major topics on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In the final week of the course, we will travel to the Grahamstown Arts Festival in South Africa, where students will synthesize their learning through exposure to a wide array of African cultural production, evaluating how the work engages with the theories of art activism and public health we've studied. Through experiences in the classroom and in the field, students will arrive at deeply informed perspectives on the AIDS pandemic in southern Africa, and will gain an activated understanding of the issues in public health, as well as the possibilities for theatrical interventions.
    Contact: For more information and application details go to the Web site.