Conference: Advances in Translational Research in AIDS/HIV in INDIA

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): According to the latest UN statistics, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2008 was 33.4 million. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of AIDS cases, followed by Asia. With 60% of the world's population, Asia has the potential to surpass Africa in number of people living with AIDS. The situation in India, which accounts for about half of the HIV infections, is especially serious given the lack of adequate health resources in some areas. There are ten US-AITRP awardees working in India who conduct research training on HIV in specific sites. There has not been a conference of Indian and U.S. AIDS researchers focusing on building collaborations, attracting new investigators MDs/PhDs to the field of HIV/AIDS and discussing the latest strategies for preventing HIV transmission. The specific aims of the conference proposed here are primarily to generate interest in broader Indo-US networking, collaboration and mentoring of new researchers and secondarily to reach a consensus on best strategies for treating and preventing HIV infection. To accomplish these goals, in this conference, it is proposed to gather the US-India AITRP groups of AIDS/HIV researchers to act as session leaders and speakers for the conference. The participants (capped at 200) will include HIV researchers from Fogarty grant-sponsored projects in the U.S. and India and other selected invited lecturer and 10 selected new Institutions (faculty, students, other researchers, clinicians and/or post-doctoral fellows). The three-day conference is to be held in January of 2011 in Goa, India will include sessions in basic epidemiology, virology, immunopathology of HIV, the translational (vaccines, microbicides, diagnostics etc) and a one-day research training theme. The format will include a series of symposia, interactive and poster sessions on translational themes including topics such as molecular virology, HIV epidemiology, issues in preventing transmission and drug resistance, how to provide HIV/AIDS services under resource-limited conditions and identifying risk factors in specific populations. The symposia will be moderated by internationally recognized experts. Workshops on advances in diagnostics and therapy, AIDS screening and counseling and grant writing will also be included. The proceedings of the HIV/AIDS conference will be published in the Journal of Global Infectious Diseases. It is expected that the TRAI Conference will lead to dissemination of latest in AIDS/HIV research revealing new directions and gaps in research training. Also, it will lead to building new indo-US networking and collaborations among the US-India AITRPs and other institutions to tackle any identified challenges. Public Health Relevance: AIDS/HIV is a major problem in Indian subcontinent and the NIH-Fogarty has awarded ten different AIDS/HIV International Research Training Programs (AITRPs) in India working with different AIDS/HIV locations until recently. However, there has not been a common gathering of these AITRPs to discuss relevant issues in research training. This proposed conference aims to bring together for the first time under one umbrella to share the latest AIDS/HIV information, to discuss the challenges and opportunities in research training and to begin networking and collaborations in India.