The Fall/Winter 2019 edition of Georgetown Medicine Magazine entitled "Caring for People with HIV," captures the history of Georgetown University Medical Center's response to HIV from the earliest days of the epidemic. DC CFAR investigators and community members shared their memories and stories from those dark days of HIV/AIDS to today's more promising, yet still challenging times.
In "Staying Positive," DC CFAR Community Coordinator and CAB Chair, Ms. Marcia Brown Ellis and DC Cohort CAB Co-Chair, Richard Strange shared their stories of survival to thriving with HIV and the care that they received over many years in the Infectious Diseases Department of Georgetown University Hospital. Ms. Brown Ellis ends her story on an upbeat note by sharing her hope, "to see the next generation benefit from all the good things life has to offer, while also feeling worth, value and power in all of their relationships." Mr. Strange notes, "if we're going to make progress, we should all play our part in furthering scientific knowledge and getting more effective diagnoses and treatments."
In "A Call to Compassion," DC CFAR Clinical and Population Sciences (CPS) Core Director, Dr. Princy Kumar recalls the challenges and role that fear and stigma played during the height of the epidemic and reflects on those physicians who came before her to provide the care needed by patients living with and dying from AIDS. Moved by those early experiences and with support from her staff, colleagues and the institution, Dr. Kumar continues to promote an infrastructure for compassionate HIV clinical care and research at Georgetown.
"Leading the Way on Women and HIV" features DC CFAR CPS Core Associate Director, Dr. Seble Kassaye and her work with the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), a national cohort study of women living with or at risk for HIV. Dr. Kassaye, who succeeded Dr. Mary Young as the PI of the DC WIHS in 2016, says the WIHS "is the U.S. study for HIV in women. There is no other equivalent, so it pushes the boundary from how things are being affected on the molecular level to how people are being affected on the population level."
The magazine tells a moving and compelling story of one hospital's response to a frightening time that demonstrated deep compassion for patients, their family, and friends.
Read the full magazine issue.