The HIV Research for Prevention Conference is the only global scientific conference focused exclusively on the challenging and fast-growing field of HIV prevention research. This conference fosters interdisciplinary knowledge exchange on HIV vaccines, microbicides, PrEP, treatment as prevention and biomedical interventions, as well as their social and behavioural implications.
The 5th HIVR4P Conference was held in Lima, Peru from October 6-10th.
At the opening plenary, the International AIDS Society (IAS) recognized Chris Beyrer with the Desmond Tutu Award for HIV Prevention Research and Human Rights. The award is named in honor of South African cleric Desmond Tutu, one of the leading global advocates for HIV prevention and the dignity of all people. The award is presented every two years to an individual or organization that has worked in an outstanding manner to advance both HIV prevention research and the human rights of people affected by HIV.
Beyrer, a past president of IAS, has led collaborative research on HIV epidemiology, prevention and treatment in Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia for more than 30 years. He serves as an advisor to the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, the World Health Organization and Physicians for Human Rights. At Duke, he is the Gary Hock Distinguished Professor in Global Health and is an associate director of the Duke Center for AIDS Research.
Desmond Tutu, a South African archbishop who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, was a fierce advocate for HIV prevention and the human rights of people living with HIV. Until his death in 2021, he frequently fought against HIV denialism and discrimination and denounced laws that criminalized sexual identity and behavior.
The award carries personal significance for Beyrer, who worked with Tutu on HIV prevention and advocacy as the founding director of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prior to coming to Duke, Beyrer served as the inaugural Desmond M. Tutu Professor of Public Health and Human Rights at JHU.
Congratulations, Chris!
The latest evidence and emerging tools from HIV prevention research were featured in over 60 sessions – including plenary presentations, invited-speaker symposia, oral abstract sessions and satellites – and over 600 posters and e-posters. Access all oral abstracts, poster exhibitions, e-posters and late breakers from HIVR4P 2024 for free in the abstract book.
Over 1,700 abstracts were submitted to the conference. The Duke CFAR was well-represented among oral and poster presentations. We are especially proud of our early stage investigators and trainees (*) who presented their work at the conference!
Duke CFAR investigators contributed as authors to 19 oral abstracts presented at HIV R4P. Duke presenters included:
- Dieter Mielke (pictured above), A higher proportion of recent compared to historic HIV viruses are resistant to antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity mediated by monoclonal antibodies and HIV BG505 SOSIP.664 trimer with 3M-052-AF/alum induces broad and potent ADCC-mediating antibodies (late breaker)
- Dieter is a Senior Research Associate in the Ferrari Lab
- Tonia Poteat, PrEP uptake and adherence among transgender women: findings from a randomized clinical trial of a multicomponent intervention (HPTN 091)
- Catherine Purnell, Examining the impact of stigma on the PrEP cascade among indigenous gay and bisexual men in Guatemala
- Catherine is a second-year 4+1 Master's student at the Duke Global Health Institute
- Kevin Wiehe, Mutation-guided HIV vaccine design: a strategy for developing boosting immunogens for BnAb induction
Duke CFAR investigators contributed as authors to 21 posters. First/presenting authors from Duke included:
- Daniel Adrianzen Alvarez (presented by David Katz), Modeling the probability of vaginal HIV infection: integrating viral mass transport theory, viral load, viral infection dynamics, and menstrual cycle phase
- Daniel is a Postdoctoral Associate in Biomedical Engineering
- Guido Ferarri, on behalf of Fatima Laher, Non-therapeutic leukapheresis in the HVTN 305 HIV vaccine trial in South Africa
- Will Herbst (presented by David Katz), Contrasting deterministic and traditional volume-averaged computational PBPK modeling for topical PREP analysis and Using deterministic computational PBPK modeling in IVR design and performance evaluation
- Will was the Katz Lab Manager
- Lance Okeke (pictured above, left, Evaluating an historically Black college and university (HBCU)-based initiative to promote careers in HIV prevention research
- Daniel Schuster (pictured above, right), BG505 SOSIP.664 adjuvanted with 3M-052 tunes IgG Fc glycosylation towards a more functional state (late breaker)
- Daniel is a trainee in the Tomaras Lab
- Wilton Williams, Isolation and characterization of heterologous tier 2 HIV-1 neutralizing antibodies from SHIV-infected neonate macaques (late breaker)
