Now as we move through the early stages of the 21st century, we still battle with HIV and AIDS.
As of the end of 1999, a total of 733,374 AIDS cases in the USA had been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In December of that same year, in the areas with name-based HIV reporting, 113,167 people were reported as living with diagnosed HIV.
The one-day program, “The Third Decade: Hopes and Challenges,” a 2001 HIV/AIDS Conference hosted by the James H. Quillen College of Medicine, is set to occur today, at the Adelphia Centre at Millenium Park.
Dr. Abraham Verghese will return to Johnson City as one of the keynote speakers for the event, and will deliver his conference address “Healing the Healer” at 3:45 p.m.
Verghese, author of the highly acclaimed book, My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story of a Town and Its People in the Age of AIDS, completed his residency training at the Quillen College of Medicine in 1983. He is currently a professor of medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso.
“Dr. Verghese found the first patient in this area to be inflicted with the disease,” said Karen Hicks, coordinator of the event.
Dr. Felix A. Sarubbi, chief of infectious diseases at the Quillen College of Medicine, is the director of the conference.
There will be various speakers at the event from centers of excellence across Tennessee doing workshops dealing with HIV/AIDS.
Some of the keynote speakers that will be joining Verghese are Sylvester Mayes, Dr. Jonathan P. Moorman, Dr. James Bailey, Dr. John P. Narro, Drema Mace, Dr. Ross E. McKinney, Jr. and Dr. Stephen P. Raffanti.
“These speakers are a high credibility to the HIV program at ETSU,” Hicks said.
Other topics to be addressed at the conference include new developments in therapy for HIV/AIDS, information on the epidemic among women and children, Hepatitis C and the problem with co-infection of HIV and efforts underway by the state health department to coordinate care.
“We are inviting HIV/AIDS patients and caregivers to attend,” Hicks said. “We are now in the third decade of this disease, and so now we are talking about different hopes and challenges for the future.”
The informative conference will include music, and the awe-inspiring AIDS quilt will be on display.
All in all, this will definitely be a great event to attend for anyone who wants to learn more about the disease and listen to a cornucopia of speakers who are excellent members of the medical community.
Hicks encourages everyone to attend.
“It will enlighten the understanding of a disease that is so misunderstood,” she said.
To register for the event, request special accommodations, or receive more information, call the ETSU office of continuing medical education at 439-8081 or (800) 222-ETSU.

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