HANC Newsletter | July 2023
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The Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination (HANC) is located at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, WA. We acknowledge the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Duwamish, Puyallup, Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.
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Join Us in Recognizing Zero HIV Stigma Day This Month
Join HANC in recognizing Zero HIV Stigma Day on July 21. HIV stigma is characterized by irrational or negative attitudes, behaviors, and judgments towards individuals living with or at risk of HIV. Zero Stigma Day serves as a unifying movement, bringing together people, communities, and nations to raise awareness about HIV stigma and discover ways to combat it. July 21st has been designated as Global Zero HIV Stigma Awareness Day in honor of Prudence Mabele, a courageous Black South African woman who was the first to openly disclose her HIV status.
Click to learn more about ways to stop HIV stigma.
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Streamlining Financial Disclosures: HANC Adopts AAMC's Convey System
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As of May 30, 2023, HANC has switched to a new financial disclosure collection system called Convey. The former disclosure site (fd.hanc.info) was taken offline on May 30, 2023. Over the course of the next few months, Network investigators will receive emails that provide more information about the new financial disclosure collection system. Convey, a global disclosure system developed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC),
will help us centralize and streamline the data collection and review process. Network investigators will receive information on how to create their personal AAMC Convey account. Please monitor your email for these important instructions. Learn more about Convey and its system by watching this brief video demonstration.
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Highlights from the 2023 Annual ACTG Network Meeting
The ACTG welcomed members to our annual meeting both in person and virtually from July 13-16 in Washington D.C. Over the course of four days of meetings, we shared research plans and findings, connected with colleagues, and learned from each other. The meeting started off with details about how much the network has achieved over the past year:
- 2,622 study participants enrolled
- 16 actively enrolling studies
- 15 studies in development
- 28 publications
- 33 abstracts presented
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A highlight of the meeting was the presentation of awards to outstanding members of the ACTG community, including:
- Kim Scarsi, Pharm.D., M.S. received the 2023 Kevin Robertson Memorial Award, which honors his memory by recognizing ACTG investigators who exemplify his compassion, collegiality, and commitment to junior investigators and who have made significant contributions to interdisciplinary research within the ACTG. Awardees have demonstrated generous, accessible, and open leadership and mentorship in HIV/AIDS research and enriched and advanced HIV/AIDS research by applying primary expertise in an area outside of HIV (e.g., neuropsychology, cardiology, endocrinology, pharmacology) to successful collaborations within the ACTG.
- Rosie Mngqibisa, M.B.Ch.B., M.P.H. received the 2023 Constance B. Wofsy Health Investigator Award, which was established to honor her memory by recognizing investigators who have made significant contributions to research in women living with HIV and who embody qualities exemplified by Dr. Wofsy. Awardees have demonstrated an ability to mentor junior investigators, ongoing clinical involvement caring for women living with HIV, and a focus on priority areas for girls and women living with HIV in the research agenda.
- Fredrick Sawe, M.B.C.H.B., M.M.E.D. received the 2023 James Hakim International Investigator Mentor Award, which honors his memory by recognizing ACTG members who exemplify his wisdom, dignity, diplomacy, and integrity that shined through in the way he conducted himself and treated his colleagues and mentees as equals. Awardees have made outstanding contributions to the mentorship and career advancement of junior HIV/AIDS researchers in international, resource-limited settings and demonstrated the ability to promote diplomacy with a voice of wisdom, knowledge, quiet authority, and strong sense of partnership in international research and collaborations.
- Raphael Landovitz, M.D., M.Sc. received the 2023 Community Donna Davis Award, which is given by the ACTG Global Community Advisory Board to a staff member who has made an outstanding contribution in engaging broader community participation in research, mentorship, education, and leadership and demonstrated a cooperative spirit with colleagues and commitment to service the ACTG.
Join us in congratulating these deserving awardees for their outstanding achievements!
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Insights from the 2023 HPTN Annual Meeting
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More than 700 in-person and virtual participants attended the recent HPTN Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., to celebrate progress and consider future research efforts to reduce and hopefully end the acquisition and transmission of HIV.
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The meeting started with Community Working Group weekend sessions focused on best practices for community engagement, community advisory board involvement, and study participant recruitment and retention.
Weekday plenaries covered various essential topics, including biomedical agents for HIV prevention, sexually transmitted infections among communities affected by HIV, prevention interventions uptake, HIV and Mpox, special considerations for people who inject drugs and pregnant people, and the use and misuse of media. In addition, the HPTN Scholars, Laboratory Center, and Statistical and Data Management Center showcased work during special plenary sessions.
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A poster session and welcome gathering also took place. It was an excellent opportunity for colleagues to meet and learn about the vital work at our many research sites worldwide.
The next HPTN Annual Meeting is scheduled for June 14-18, 2024.
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Dr. Raphael Landovitz Receives Ward Cates Spirit Award for Outstanding Leadership in HIV Research and Advocacy
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Above: From L-R- Drs. Sheryl Zwerski, Myron Cohen, Raphael Landovitz, and Wafaa El-Sadr
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Dr.
Raphael Landovitz received the 2023 Ward Cates Spirit Award during the HPTN Annual Meeting. As one of the protocol chairs for HPTN 077 and HPTN 083, Dr. Landovitz helped lead the NIH-funded trials that supported the 2021 FDA approval of long-acting injectable cabotegravir for HIV PrEP. He is also the HPTN Manuscript Review Committee co-chair, an HPTN Executive Committee member, and an HPTN Biomedical Sciences Working Group member. Dr. Landovitz is the interim chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine and co-director of the UCLA Center for Clinical AIDS Research & Education (CARE) and of the UCLA Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services (CHIPTS).
Dr. Landovitz was recognized for his outstanding commitment and leadership to health, scientific excellence, personal values of integrity, honesty, loyalty, compassion, advocacy for the dignity and rights of others, and unwavering commitment to doing what is right and just.
The award honors the legacy of Dr. Willard (Ward) Cates Jr. He was a dedicated steward of HPTN scientific and research programs, a respected scientist who contributed to groundbreaking contraceptive and HIV prevention research, a prolific writer who authored or co-authored more than 450 scientific publications and a committed mentor who helped several generations of young scientists produce and publish quality research.
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IAS 2023 & The International Workshop on HIV & Pediatrics 2023
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Social Behavioral Scientific Core SpotLight Series: July 2023
The IMPAACT Social Behavioral Scientific Core invites you to attend the upcoming SpotLight Series webinar titled, “Optimizing PrEP Uptake Among Pregnant Women by Understanding Patient Preferences Using Discrete Choice Experiments” by Melissa Mugambi on 27 July 2023 at 10:00 a.m. EDT.
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2023 IMPAACT Annual Meeting
The 2023 IMPAACT Annual Meeting will take place in Washington, D.C., and virtually from 22-27 October 2023. Additional details, including registration and the agenda, will soon be available. We recommend submitting a
visa letter request for those traveling from outside the United States as early as possible.
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Behavioral and Social Sciences
Greg Davis, HANC Project Manager
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Financial Disclosure Working Group: Please see the financial disclosure announcement under “HANC Announcements” regarding a change to the way Network investigators will report their financial disclosure statements going forward. More information will be shared as we get closer to the annual solicitation date.
Red Ribbon Registry: HANC’s Red Ribbon Registry team hosted a help desk table at the ACTG annual meeting. HVTN’s Kylie McCloskey also provided an update on the use of the registry by domestic ACTG sites. HANC and HVTN staff recently met with leadership from the Adolescents Medicine Trials Network (ATN) to discuss ways that the ATN could benefit from using the Red Ribbon Registry.
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Community Partners
Greg Davis, HANC Project Manager
Russell Campbell, HANC Director
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Several members of Community Partners worked together to revise the “How to Critically and Quickly Read a Protocol” document for cure studies. View the document here. The group is planning to host a webinar to share the revisions to the document. An announcement will be shared as soon as it is calendared.
The group will be looking for volunteers to form another ad-hoc committee to discuss TB vaccines and the need for a strategy for clear and concise communication with community members.
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Laboratory Coordination
Tyler Brown, HANC Laboratory Project Manager
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The Lab Technologists SOP Working Group met in June to revise the Guidelines for Shipping and Receiving Biological Substance, Category B Specimens. The group aims to publish an updated version of this SOP by the end of July. Additionally, the working group published in June a new version of the Dried Blood Spot Card Preparation Standard Operating Procedure. This SOP can now be accessed on the
ACTG/IMPAACT Laboratory Manual webpage under the Resources section.
In June, the Lab Focus Group (LFG) convened to tackle key issues related to cross-network lab activities, specifically addressing lab supply shortages and upcoming policy changes.
Reminder: In May the DAIDS Office for Policy in Clinical Research Operations (OPCRO) published DAIDS GCLP Training Related FAQs (Version 2.0). Find the updated document on the DAIDS Clinical Research Policies webpage: DAIDS Clinical Research Policies.
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The Legacy Project
Brian Minalga, HANC Deputy Director
Pedro Goicochea, HANC Community Engagement Officer
Gabriella Olague, HANC Project Coordinator
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From L-R: Pedro Goicochea, Brian Minalga, Gabriella Olague
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7/12: Gabriella Olague will facilitate her second ever WHRC working group meeting.
7/13: The WHRC team will meet to develop the USCHA abstract poster “Still We Rise: Forging a Women-Centered Research Paradigm”
7/20: Brian Minalga is presenting on transgender inclusion in research to the National Cancer Institute Sexual and Gender Minorities Interest Group.
7/23-26: Brian Minalga will represent HANC in Brisbane, Australia at IAS 2023, the 12th IAS Conference on HIV Science. Look for Brian’s speaking engagements online and in-person at the following:
Webinars (recently past and upcoming):
6/22: Brandon Brown, PhD, Professor, facilitated the webinar, “Payment to Research Participants: Regulations, Stakeholder Perspectives, and Data.” 69 people attended. View slides here.
7/12: “Diversity and Inclusion in HIV/AIDS Clinical Research: The Role of Language Justice (Part 1).” Register here.
7/18: “ClusterF*#k: Molecular HIV Surveillance, Criminalization, and the Real Risks to PLHIV.” Register here.
8/2: “Diversity and Inclusion in HIV/AIDS Clinical Research: The Role of Language Justice (Part 2).” Register here.
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International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS) 2023 (Brisbane, Australia)
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The US Conference on HIV & AIDS (Washington DC, USA)
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Annual HVTN Conference (Seattle, USA)
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Annual IMPAACT Network Meeting (Washington DC, USA)
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