Tuesday, November 12, 1996
HEALTH:
Researchers to discuss different findings concerning deadly
virusBy Phillip Carter
Daily Bruin Staff
Just as recent statistics show HIV and AIDS affecting more
college-age men and women than ever, UCLA will host its fifth
annual meeting of scientists dedicated to studying and curing the
deadly virus.
Keynoting the Fifth Annual UCLA AIDS Institute Scientific
Symposium will be Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading scientist in the
fight against HIV since the early 1980s.
The symposium is designed to bring together AIDS researchers
from UCLA and all of its affiliated hospitals in Los Angeles, to
foster interaction that will eventually lead to inter-disciplinary
projects and discoveries at UCLA.
Fauci, who currently serves as Director of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Maryland, will
speak at 9 a.m. in Korn Convocation Hall to the UCLA scientific
community, and once again at noon in Ackerman Grand Ballroom to the
general public.
Among his many volumes of research, certain pieces stand out
from Fauci’s curriculum vitae. More than any other researcher, he
is credited with illuminating how AIDS attacks and inhibits the
human immune system.
Additionally, he has been instrumental in working in developing
strategies for immune-system reconstitution.
"He’s the top banana (in AIDS research)," according to Professor
Roger Bohman, who teaches UCLA’s popular Biology 40 course. Bohman
added that Fauci’s credentials make him the preeminent AIDS
researcher in the world today, and that his research was critical
to the understanding of the way AIDS works.
Other UCLA scientists concurred, adding that the widely
respected researcher has devoted much of his work to AIDS since the
onset of the epidemic.
"He does very critical pioneering research on the basic science
of HIV," said Dr. Gail Wyatt, who will be releasing her own study
on the way AIDS affects women’s lives on Wednesday. "He’s well
respected in the research community because he’s been committed to
this issue from the very beginning."
Though the morning session is limited to campus scientists and
researchers, Fauci’s lunchtime address will be open to the public,
and tailored to a broader audience than the symposium itself.
Despite Fauci’s notoriety, the conference will focus on more
than his work. The morning’s session will center on the work of the
UCLA AIDS Institute’s research and clinical advances, while
workshops will be held in the afternoon in a variety of different
areas relating to AIDS research and treatment.
One of those areas includes Wyatt’s research, which will be
presented as part of the afternoon’s break-out sessions. Her group
has just concluded an extensive study of AIDS in women, and how
ethnic groups differ in their treatment of women once they have
contracted the disease.
"We’re looking at how HIV is affecting their bodies, how it’s
affecting their relationships with men, with women, and with their
children and how they’re coping with this disease," Wyatt said.
Though she wouldn’t disclose the exact results of the study,
Wyatt foreshadowed some disheartening answers to her research
questions.
"I think we have some very sobering information to share about
how women are being treated not only by the health care system, but
by their families, by other professionals who really should be more
sensitive to what they’re dealing with," Wyatt said.
In addition to its scientific content, the conference will
feature an afternoon reception at the Anderson School, hosted by
the UCLA Ventures Program and designed to facilitate networking
between the scientists and business students working toward their
MBA at UCLA’s business school.
"The university is heading toward more industry-university
partnerships, and that’s the direction we’re going," said Jo
Sherman, administrator of UCLA’s AIDS Institute.
"We thought this would be a perfect opportunity to build bridges
and strengthen our relationships with the Anderson School Â
there’s a great synergy between the expertise of their business
people and our scientists."