CFAR and RHYTHM host the inaugural Community Connections 

On Thursday, October 10, 2024, the Emory Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Clinical Research Core and Emory Research in HIV and Women’s Health and Y This Harmony Matters (RHYTHM) hosted the inaugural Community Connections at the Grady Ponce de Leon Center. This community event is aimed at celebrating participants for their dedicated collaboration and creating engaging conversations around topical research.

This Community Connections was thematically geared to explore What’s Hot and What’s New in HIV Treatment and Care.

The evening opened with dinner and a poster session, allowing attendees to view and pose questions directly to RHYTHM and peer investigators about their respective HIV research developments. Igho Ofotokun, MD, MSc, (Infectious Diseases), formally presented the advancements and opportunities for treatment and care for persons living with HIV. Following, Malcolm Reid, Unity Arc Advocacy Group Founder, provided an impactful community perspective, formally presenting the state of HIV care and prevention in the Southern region of the U.S.  The event closed with an engaging panel discussion (panel members: Lisa Flowers, MD, MSc; Cecile Lahiri, MD, MSc; Malcolm Reid; and Vincent Maconi, MD) moderated by Anandi Sheth, MD, MSc (Infectious Diseases). Through poster presentations and lectures, attendees had the opportunity to learn about a diverse breadth of research ranging from socioeconomic and policy barriers to care that can impact health outcomes to the importance of antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence and the physiological impacts of ART.