Game Changers in HIV Prevention - A Funders'  Briefing

On Thursday, April 14, from 12:00 - 1:30 PM EST, Mitchell Warren and Emily Bass (AVAC) led a discussion with Dr. Robert Grant (Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco), Dr. Zeda Rosenberg (International Partnership for Microbicides) and Dr. Reuben Granich (World Health Organization) on the state of the world of PrEP, microbicides and treatment as prevention.

• What are the implications for grantmaking portfolios?
• How can funders - at all levels of giving - get involved to impact the delivery of these technologies and initiatives in the future?    
  
  Read the one-sheet report from this briefing for a list of the top 10 things funders can consider in supporting these initiatives.

 Speaker Bios:

1. (Moderator) Mitchell Warren: Mitchell is the Executive Director of AVAC, an international non-governmental organization that uses public education, policy analysis, advocacy and community mobilization to accelerate the ethical development and global delivery of AIDS vaccines and other HIV prevention options as part of a comprehensive response to the epidemic.
   
   Before this, he was the Senior Director for Vaccine Preparedness at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) where he directed efforts to increase community understanding and national involvement in AIDS vaccine clinical trials. Mitchell previously spent four years as Vice President and Director of International Affairs for The Female Health Company (FHC), the manufacturer of the female condom, where he directed efforts to design and implement reproductive health programs that integrate the female condom, and he led global advocacy efforts for expanded commitment to female-initiated prevention methods. Prior to joining FHC, Mitchell spent six years at Population Services International (PSI) designing and implementing social marketing, communications and health promotion activities in Africa, Asia and Europe, including five years running PSI's project in South Africa. Mitchell is a member of the Global HIV Prevention Working Group; the governing council of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise; the WHO-UNAIDS HIV Vaccine Advisory Committee; and co-chair of the Caucus for Evidence-Based Prevention.
   
   Mitchell has degrees in English and History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and studied health policy at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.
2. Zeda Rosenberg: Dr. Rosenberg has been chief executive officer of International Partnership for Microbicides IPM since its founding in 2002. From 1999 to 2002 Dr. Rosenberg was the scientific director for the HIV Prevention Trials Network at FHI. In that role she managed scientific and operational coordination for domestic and international clinical trials in the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission, sexual transmission, and intravenous drug use transmission.
   
   From 1987 to 1999 Dr. Rosenberg worked in several capacities at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). In her role as senior scientist at the Division of AIDS, she was responsible for HIV- prevention clinical trials in adult populations. As assistant director for prevention research, she coordinated prevention activities in the areas of HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases as well as tuberculosis. She represented NIH on the Public Health Service Task Force to Combat Multi-Drug Resistant TB and co-chaired the TB Research Subcommittee.
   
   Dr. Rosenberg received her undergraduate degree (AB) in biology and mathematics from Douglass College, Rutgers University; a master’s degree (SM) in epidemiology and a doctoral degree (ScD) in microbiology from the Harvard School of Public Health.
3. Dr. Robert Grant: Robert (Bob) Grant is a Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. He has over 26 years of experience with AIDS clinical care and research, which includes 4 years in leading roles in epidemiological studies in San Francisco and Uganda, followed by a fellowship in Molecular Medicine, after which he started the Gladstone/UCSF Laboratory of Clinical Virology in 1997 and the Gladstone Laboratory of Molecular Evolution in 2000.
   
   Dr. Grant is currently the protocol chair for the Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (or PrEP) Initiative study, which involves use of antiviral agents to block transmission of HIV-1 to highly exposed persons, in addition to standard prevention care. This global clinical trial has sites in Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, United States, South Africa, and Thailand - settings where HIV-1 continues to spread. Dr. Grant's laboratory is also leading research to understand the biological and social implications of PrEP, which may include immune responses due to viral antigen exposure during PrEP, low level drug resistance, and alterations in HIV testing and disclosure in social networks.  Dr. Grant's laboratory is also interested in HIV-1 superinfection, where persons already infected with HIV-1 might acquire additional strains of the virus.  Understanding when superinfection occurs, and when it does not, could provide clues to protective immunity that would guide HIV vaccine development.  Dr. Grant's team has also investigated the consequences of molecular evolution, including (1) the fitness of drug-resistant HIV-1 for replication, virulence, and transmission; (2) mechanisms of mutagenesis that underlie viral evolution; and (3) nonpathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection in natural host species. Their long term goal is to understand the viral and social characteristics that underlie patterns of epidemic spread of HIV-1 in human communities.

   Dr. Grant is a Betty Jean and Hiro Ogawa Endowed Investigator. He has served as a member of the US FDA Antiviral Advisory Committee. He is an author of 100 peer-reviewed publications.

4. Dr. Reuben Granich: Dr Reuben Granich is the Medical Officer for HIV/TB in the HIV/AIDS Department of the World Health Organization (WHO). Dr. Granich has over 20 years experience in health and development, working for national, state and local governments, the UN system, and in private sector health care. After arriving at WHO in 2007, Dr Granich collaborated with others to launch WHO's Three I’s for HIV/TB initiative, and co-led the revision of WHO’s Guidelines on Isoniazid Preventive Treatment and Intensified Case Finding for TB. His TB prevention efforts include work on the potential for ART for prevention of HIV transmission and TB morbidity and mortality, as well as an analysis of the economic impact of ART for prevention in southern Africa. Before coming to WHO where he is the HIV/AIDS Department medical officer for HIV/TB, he spent three years in the Office of the Global AIDS coordinator (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief ) as the senior advisor for care and treatment.  Before that he served in India as the WHO medical officer for tuberculosis and led an 80 person WHO team providing technical support for the Government of India’s DOTS TB program expansion.  His interest and work on HIV began in 1988 and has included work in over 20 low and middle income countries.
   

    
   He is the co-author of “HIV, health and your community: a guide for action” a manual for community health workers that has been translated into over 20 languages and is in use in over 30 countries.  Additionally, he has published websites, book chapters and over 50 scientific articles focusing on HIV, TB, health seeking behaviour, immigration and health, private-public health collaborations, ethics and human rights.
   
   He has a Bachelor of Arts degree (BA) in Biochemistry and Cellular Biology from University of California San Diego, a Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Stanford University School of Medicine and has completed residencies and board certifications in both internal medicine and preventive medicine and public health.  He also holds a Masters in Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology from University of California Berkeley and has completed Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) training with the International TB Research and Control Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia.  He holds the rank of Captain in the United States Public Health Service.