HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) set to engage communities at 9^th SA AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa

SEATTLE — JUNE 6, 2018 — Funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and headquartered at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the HVTN will join study participants, communities and in-country partners to talk about its four large-scale HIV vaccine efficacy clinical trials that are fully enrolled or nearing full enrollment.  These large-scale HIV vaccine efficacy clinical trials are underway in the conference host country, South Africa, and in 11 other countries across four continents.

As the world’s largest multi-disciplinary international collaboration facilitating the development of vaccines to prevent HIV, the HVTN is hosting and participating in the following activities, and invites stakeholders and the news media to attend:

Wednesday, June 12

Hall 1, 8:30-11:00a.m.

Plenary

A journey to find a safe and effective HIV prevention response

• Professor Linda-Gail Bekker, a principal investigator at the HVTN and Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town, will deliver a talk on the search for an HIV vaccine.
• Professor Glenda Gray, HVTN Co-Principal Investigator and President of the South Africa Medical Research Council, will be speaking on the role of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) in the HIV prevention response.

Thursday, June 13

Hall 8 - 12AB, 7:30-8:30a.m.

Satellite session

The journey to find a safe & effective HIV vaccine

This session, chaired by Professor Glenda Gray and Dr. Simba Takuva, will focus on the HVTN’s journey to find a safe and effective HIV vaccine and cover the topics of study participants and communities, HIV risk in women, partnerships, and updates on large-scale vaccine efficacy studies.

Speakers will include:

• Kagisho Baepanye, HVTN Community Engagement Manager
• Jackline Odhiambo, HVTN Senior Project Manager
• Dr. Fatima Laher, co-chair of HVTN 702, Principal Investigator and Director of PHRU Vaccines Research Clinical Research Site
• Dr. Mookho Malahleha, co-chair of HVTN 702 and Deputy Director of Setshaba Research Centre
• Dr. Kathryn Mngadi, co-chair for HVTN 705 and 107 and a CRS Leader for the Aurum Tembisa Clinic 4
• Dr. Nyaradzo Mgodi, co-chair of the Antibody Mediated Prevention (AMP) Studies

News media interviews may be arranged before and after the activities.  Please contact Aziel Gangerdine at azielg@fredhutch.org or at 206.384.0945.