By Shira Nanus
The Daily Cardinal
Three UW-Madison professors and one UW-Madison alumna spoke Thursday night at Birge Hall about the approach to understanding and treating the global HIV/AIDS epidemic in an event coordinated by the Student Global AIDS Campaign.
David Watkins, a professor of pathology at the UW Medical School and the director of the HLA/Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at the UW Hospital and Clinics, spoke about the vaccine research he has been conducting on campus.
'Vaccine development has been incredibly difficult, mainly because of the huge variability that exists, because every time the virus copies itself, it makes a mistake,' Watkins said. 'Only the stupid fear to tread in this arena, and I am one of them.'
After continuous disappointment in his research, Watkins said their latest series of experiments looks to provide hopeful results.
Theodore Gerber, a professor of Sociology and Associate Director of the Center for Demography and Ecology, discussed the development and spread of HIV/AIDS in Russia.
As of 1995, Russia had 1,090 documented cases of AIDS and by 2001 that number had risen to 330,000. Two years ago, Gerber conducted focus groups in Russia and found that people, including health officials, were 'surprisingly blas'?? about the disease and did not acknowledge HIV/AIDS as a major health crisis.
'There has not been a surge of public recognition or understanding the problem [of AIDS] that one would hope to see to be optimistic,' Gerber said.
Richard Keller, an assistant professor of medical history and history of science, discussed HIV/AIDS in a political and social context.
He discussed how AIDS emerged at a time when the world was optimistic about the future of disease, having just destroyed smallpox. Keller touched on how AIDS is approached similarly in foreign countries and the United States.
'Some of the most marginalized populations, what we might call the invisible populations, are those who are most at risk of the disease and least likely to get treatment,' Keller said.
UW-Madison alumna Lolo Evans discussed her extensive work with AIDS in South Africa and on the UW campus. She ended the evening by drawing links between the speakers' presentations.
'It's really about collaboration and it's interesting hearing from all our speakers,' she said. 'It's different elements of the same story that need to collaborate together.'
