PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Recent, hopeful developments in the global fight against HIV/AIDS have spurred speculation, especially around World AIDS Day Dec. 1, that public health has turned a corner. Brown is home to many leading experts on the disease who can provide insight into the action required to make that hope a reality.

For additional information or to arrange interviews, please contact David Orenstein, media relations specialist for life sciences, at 401-863-1862.

Amy Nunn conducts social science research examining the structural, social and behavioral factors influencing racial disparities in HIV infection in the United States. She received an NIH Career Development Award in 2010 to investigate the role of concurrent sexual partnerships and other factors in potentiating racial disparities in HIV infection. In partnership with the Philadelphia mayor’s office of faith-based initiatives, she recently organized a citywide effort among black churches and mosques to increase HIV testing, awareness and tolerance.

“The global public health community has made tremendous strides in HIV treatment in the United States and abroad in recent years. This year, several groundbreaking HIV prevention studies were released that offer much promise for reducing HIV infections in the United States and globally. Also, for the first time since the onset of the AIDS epidemic, the United States has a national AIDS strategy. However, much work remains to be done to reduce enormous racial disparities in HIV infection in the United States, where African Americans have HIV infection rates seven times those of whites. Reducing racial disparities in HIV infection is a critical component of President Obama’s national AIDS strategy and should continue to be a primary focus of all HIV prevention and treatment efforts in the United States for the next decade.”