IU’s legacy of leadership and care in the fight against HIV and AIDS

As World AIDS Day approaches Dec. 1, Indiana University’s researchers and clinicians are advancing better health outcomes for people living with HIV and AIDS. IU’s dedication to improving the lives of those affected by this deadly epidemic across the globe spans multiple decades. 

A group of IU School of Medicine doctors on the ground in Eldoret, Kenya, planted the seed in 1990 for an academic health partnership to care for Kenyan patients, train the next generation of healthcare professionals and advance research that improves health. Their Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare, better known as AMPATH, is an international partnership that still thrives today and has grown into one of Africa’s largest, most comprehensive and most effective HIV/AIDS care and control programs. 

Dr. Joe Mamlin and professor Sylvester Kimaiyo, director of care programs for AMPATH,​​ ramped up IU’s efforts to fight HIV and AIDS in Kenya in the early 2000s. AMPATH’s Kenyan partners, Moi University and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, recently received more than $120 million in PEPFAR/USAID awards for HIV-related care programs to be implemented in nine counties in Kenya over the next five years.

While IU’s impact in this field is felt worldwide, our work to improve the lives of Hoosiers and advance awareness of HIV/AIDS throughout our state and nation also continues as a high priority.

• Associate professor Jon Agley and IU School of Public Health-Bloomington researchers are celebrating the culmination of five years of community-engaged work to prevent HIV and hepatitis in northwest Indiana.
• Jesse C. Stewart, professor of psychology in the School of Science at IUPUI, and Dr. Samir K. Gupta, a professor in the IU School of Medicine, recently received NIH funding to study whether internet treatment of insomnia reduces inflammation in people with HIV.
• The School of Public Health-Bloomington's Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention will host Dr. Anthony Fauci for a virtual "fireside chat" and ceremony, during which Fauci will receive the center's Ryan White Distinguished Leadership Award for his work to combat HIV/AIDS.
• IU will host its first national HIV conference in June, bringing together consumers as well as leaders in the higher education, nonprofit, government, healthcare and pharmaceutical fields who are engaged in HIV/AIDS prevention, research and care -- especially as it relates to college students.

 For nearly as long as World AIDS Day has been recognized, Indiana University has tackled the urgent needs of HIV and AIDS patients with compassion, commitment and leadership. We remain steadfast today in this ongoing commitment.

Pamela Whitten

President
Indiana University