HIV Research for Prevention 2014 (HIV R4P)
May 2013 - The search for effective biomedical HIV prevention options has progressed further and changed
faster in the last few years than at any time since the epidemic began. Recent breakthroughs in vaccines, ARV-based microbicides and PrEP,
and other prevention technologies open new doors to reducing the scope of the global epidemic. This progress also poses new questions
and brings new challenges as we continue to move HIV biomedical prevention research forward. Perhaps most importantly, these advances
teach us that effective HIV prevention will likely require a combination of approaches.
To reflect this convergence, in 2014 we will usher in a new, broader prevention research conference, HIV Research
for Prevention 2014: AIDS Vaccine, Microbicide and ARV-based Prevention Science (HIV R4P). This first HIV R4P biennial meeting
will take place 28-31 October 2014 at the Cape Town International Conference Centre in Cape Town, South Africa.
HIV R4P will build on, link and merge the successes of the past biennial microbicide and annual vaccine conferences.
This first international scientific meeting dedicated to biomedical HIV prevention research will bring together researchers,
clinicians, private sector partners, advocates, policy makers and public health experts to share and discuss the latest
research in ARV-based prevention, vaccines and related areas of HIV prevention. This meeting will help to
cross-fertilize the various areas of research, develop a broader forum for common research themes and
expand discussions around crosscutting issues as we develop, rollout and evaluate new prevention options.
We are honored to serve as the co-chairs for this conference, and look forward to working with you to create a dynamic
program that will help advance a comprehensive HIV prevention research agenda. The Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, which leads the
annual AIDS Vaccine conference, will serve as the HIV R4P conference secretariat in 2014. The Enterprise has created a committee
of its board with additional outside members to support us as Chairs and ensure that the conference is diverse in its program
and participation.
We hope to attract between 1,200 and 1,500 members of the broad HIV prevention community to HIV R4P. We are already working
hard to raise funds to ensure a large number of scholarships for this conference, and remain dedicated to bringing many international
participants including those from developing countries and early-career investigators to this important meeting.
In the coming months, we will focus on establishing the conference organizing committee and mechanisms for broader
community input to help us identify the most critical issues for debate, discussion and action at the conference.
We will keep in touch as planning continues, and look forward to working with you to make HIV R4P 2014 a most productive - and
enjoyable - conference! We encourage you to review our frequently asked questions document and submit questions or comments to the
conference Secretariat at info@hivr4p.org. Updated information will be available at www.hivr4p.org.
Sharon Hillier, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Eric Hunter, Emory University, Atlanta, USA
Anatoli Kamali, Medical Research Council/UVRI Uganda Research Unit on AIDS, Entebbe, Uganda
Helen Rees, Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI), Johannesburg, South Africa
Robin Shattock, Imperial College, London, UK
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Source: http://hivr4p.org/
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