Wednesday, January 24, 2024
9–10 a.m. CT

Register on Zoom

Description

The Third Coast CFAR’s Clinical Sciences Core will lead a virtual workshop disseminating findings from REPRIEVE, a global study that evaluated the efficacy of a statin to prevent cardiovascular disease among people with HIV. The event will feature principal investigators of clinical studies on cardiovascular complications in HIV and an interactive panel discussion with world renowned experts on HIV research, cardiology, and epidemiology.

Introduction

• Babafemi Taiwo, MBBS
  Director, TC CFAR Clinical Sciences Core
  Gene Stollerman Professor of Medicine, Chief of Infectious Diseases, Northwestern University

REPRIEVE Highlights and Perspectives on Clinical Impact

• Steven Grinspoon, MD
  Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
  Chief of the Metabolism Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital
  Co-Principal Investigator, Clinical Coordinating Center, REPRIEVE
• Peter Hunt, MD
  Professor of Medicine, Division of Experimental Medicine, University of California San Francisco (UCSF)
  Co-Director, UCSF-Bay Area Center for AIDS Research

Moderated Panel Discussion

Panelists

• Amesika Nyaku, MD, MS
  Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
• Frank J. Palella Jr., MD
  Director, Center for HIV and Aging, Potocsnak Family Longevity Institute
  Potocsnak Family Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Northwestern University
• Matthew Feinstein, MD, MSc
  Director, Clinical and Translational Immunocardiology Program
  Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Northwestern University

Moderator

• Jennifer Jao, MD, MPH
  Co-Director, TC CFAR Clinical Sciences Core
  Susan B. DePree Founders’ Board Professor in Pediatric, Adolescent, and Maternal HIV Infection
  Director, Section of Pediatric, Adolescent, and Maternal HIV Infection, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

Learning Objectives

• Discuss how the REPRIEVE trial’s findings will impact clinical practice.
• Consider the implementation of broader use of statins for people living with HIV.
• Gain insight on current clinical studies available within the REPREIVE trial and how attendees can collaborate across institutions to participate.
• Review availability of data and specimens from the REPRIEVE trial to support new research.

Speaker Bios

Steven Grinspoon

Steven Grinspoon, MD, is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, chief of the metabolism unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, and director of the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard. Grinspoon’s research career has been focused on mechanisms of metabolic and cardiovascular complications in HIV. He has led NIH RO1-funded studies investigating HIV-infected patients for over 25 years and has numerous peer-reviewed publications. Work from his lab has suggested an increased rate of myocardial infarction (heart attacks) in HIV-infected patients and highlighted the relative contributions of traditional and non-traditional risk factors. Additionally, his work on strategies to improve insulin resistance and visceral fat accumulation among HIV-infected patients led to the first FDA-approved therapy for lipodystrophy. Grinspoon is the co-principal investigator of the Clinical Coordinating Center for REPRIEVE, chair of the REPRIEVE protocol, and chair of the Operational Leadership Committee.

Peter Hunt

Peter Hunt, MD, is a professor of medicine in the division of experimental medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), co-director of the UCSF-Bay Area Center for AIDS Research for Basic and Translational Science, and associate chief for research for the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG)-UCSF Department of Medicine. His primary research focus is on the inflammatory consequences of HIV infection. His translational research program seeks to understand the causes and consequences of persistent immune activation and its impact on aging-associated multi-morbidity and mortality in treated HIV infection, as well as its impact on HIV persistence. He also conducts clinical trials of novel immune-based interventions designed to decrease immune activation and served a term as chair of the Inflammation Committee of the NIAID-funded AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG).

Babafemi Taiwo

Babafemi Taiwo, MBBS, is the Gene Stollerman Professor of Medicine and chief of Infectious Diseases in the department of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He is the director of the Third Coast CFAR’s Clinical Sciences Core and a member of the ACTG’s Executive Committee. Taiwo has extensive experience in medical education and research capacity building through NIH and the Fogarty International Center-funded programs, including serving as principal investigator of the Multidisciplinary NeuroAIDS Research Training to Improve HIV Outcomes in Nigeria. His research is focused on discovering novel antiretroviral treatments to optimize virologic control and address the causes and effects of residual inflammation and immune activation. He has authored over 100 publications related to HIV/AIDS. Recently, Taiwo has led four NIH grants on youth-specific interventions to improve HIV outcomes among Nigerian adolescents and young adults.

Amesika Nyaku

Amesika Nyaku, MD, MS, is an assistant professor in the division of infectious diseases at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and a physician-scientist. She provides clinical care for people living with HIV or other infectious diseases and substance use disorders. Her research interests lie at the intersection of HIV and substance use disorders. She focuses on 1) evaluating long-acting therapeutics for HIV and opioid use disorder, 2) implementing integrated care models for HIV and substance use disorders to improve health outcomes, and 3) increasing the inclusion and participation of racial and ethnic minorities in clinical trials research.

Frank J. Palella, Jr.

Frank J. Palella Jr., MD, is the Potocsnak Family Professor of Medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He is the director of the HIV and Aging Center within Feinberg’s Potocsnak Family Longevity Institute, for which he also serves as associate director. His research is focused on healthy aging and comorbidity management among persons living with HIV (PWH). Palella, Jr. holds leadership positions within several large, prospective, multicenter research cohorts of PWH that are sponsored by the NIH and the CDC. He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed articles in biomedical journals. Palella, Jr. remains clinically active, managing the care of several hundred PWH.

Matthew Feinstein

Matthew Feinstein, MD, MSc, is an associate professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the director of Northwestern’s Clinical and Translational Immunocardiology Program. Feinstein researches cardiovascular complications of HIV infection. His translational research laboratory is focused on immune plasticity in cardiovascular diseases, with a particular interest in human models of chronic immune dysregulation. The goal of this work is to identify and refine cellular and cell-extrinsic targets that reprogram immune responses to blunt and ultimately resolve pathologic inflammation.

Jennifer Jao

Jennifer Jao, MD, MPH, is a professor of pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases at Lurie Children’s Hospital and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She is the co-director of the Third Coast CFAR’s Clinical Sciences Core. Jao has led cohorts of pregnant women living with HIV and their children in the U.S. and Africa. As a translational researcher, her research portfolio targets the metabolic complications of HIV and its treatment in pregnant individuals living with HIV and their children. She is the principal investigator on multiple NIH-funded studies in the U.S. and Africa to better understand the long-term health outcomes and chronic comorbidities associated with HIV in adults and children.