Health Action AIDS

It’s Not Over: Innovative Approaches to the Global AIDS Epidemic

A Town Meeting with Congresswoman Betty McCollum

More than 33 million people are now infected with HIV/AIDS, and 25 million have already died. Women and young girls comprise more than 60% of those living with HIV--and the numbers continue to rise. Innovative approaches are needed to address the social inequalities and human rights violations that fuel the increasingly feminized epidemic. A renewed commitment to rights based health systems must become a priority in order to address the devastating health worker shortage. Join us for this unique opportunity to hear from local, national and international AIDS experts, health professionals, students, community members and elected Representatives about ways we can respond to the challenges ahead in the fight against global AIDS.

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Contact Jirair Ratevosian at jratevosian at phrusa dot org or 617-301-4212 with any questions.

About the Speakers

Betty McCollum is serving her fourth term in Congress representing Minnesota's Fourth District. In Congress, McCollum is working to defend workers' rights and civil liberties at home, while ensuring human rights are protected around the world. She brings a common sense perspective to her two powerful committee assignments – the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. She authored a Constitutional Amendment that would make basic healthcare a right for all Americans and a co-founded the Congressional Global Health Caucus. 

Donna Barry is currently the Advocacy and Policy Manager at Partners In Health as well as a Nurse Practitioner who provides support to all PIH’s reproductive health programs. Previously she led the Partners In Health project to treat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in Russia. She is guiding PIH’s advocacy and policy efforts related to health and hunger, socio-economic development in Haiti, increasing the pool of funding for global health and the health care worker shortage. She has participated in briefings and hearings in the US House of Representative on Haiti debt relief, MDR-TB and reproductive health. Donna is a nurse practitioner with certifications in women’s and adult health. She earned degrees in Political Science and Russian at Saint Louis University, and then went on to Columbia University in New York, where she earned Masters’ Degrees in International Affairs and Public Health.  

Keith Henry, MD, is Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine and Director of HIV Clinical Research at Hennepin County Medical Center. He has more than 20 years of experience caring for HIV-infected patients and has spent his entire career at public-hospital and free-clinic sites. In 1987, he pioneered a technique to prevent blindness from CMV retinitis. He has been the coauthor/investigator for several large multicenter studies and is actively involved in over 20 research projects in Minnesota, as well as a trial of generic antiretroviral drugs in Bangalore, India.

Omobosola Akinsete, MD, MPH, a Nigerian trained physician, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases at UMN School of Medicine. She also works as a staff physician at the infectious disease clinics for both Hennepin County Medical Center and Health Partners Medical Group. She was previously a fellow in Infectious Diseases at the UMN School of Medicine and also has a master's degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.  She has authored and co-authored several published works on HIV/AIDS.

About the Organizers

The Health Action AIDS Campaign at Physicians for Human Rights mobilizes health professionals to support a comprehensive AIDS strategy and advocates for unprecedented funds to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic.  Pat Daoust, based in Cambridge, MA, is the Director of PHR's Health Action AIDS Campaign. Pat is a Masters prepared Registered Nurse with over 30 years of clinical, educational and managerial experience. For the last seven years, her work has focused on international projects, primarily in Botswana, Swaziland and Ethiopia. She was the lead advisor of a large and innovative Center for Disease Control-funded Nursing Capacity Building Project in Ethiopia. 

The Minnesota AIDS Project envisions a world free of AIDS. MAP leads Minnesota's fight to stop HIV through advocacy, education and service. Lorraine Teel has worked to shape a more positive and progressive society for more than 30 years. During that time, Lorraine's work in human services has been extensive. As executive director of the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP) since 1990, Lorraine has helped lead Minnesota's response to HIV for over 15 years. During that time, she has actively participated on many local and national committees, including the Minnesota Commissioner's Task Force on HIV/STD Prevention and AIDS Action Council in Washington, DC.

This event is organized by Physicians for Human Rights and the Minnesota AIDS Project.  Co-sponsors include: The Center for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Translational Research; The Center for Victims of Torture; The Deborah E. Powell Center for Women's Health; The Department of Microbiology; The Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine; The Global Health Pathway; The Global Pediatric Programs; The Human Rights Center at the University Minnesota Law School; The International Medical Education and Research Program; The Minnesota African Women's Association; The Minnesota International Health Volunteers; The School of Public Health and The School of Nursing.