Advocates Archive - S
[please choose the first initial of the Advocate's last name]
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Jorge Sanchez, MD, MPH
Lima, Peru
IRMA Steering Committee Member
Currently the Principal Investigator at the Peruvian HIV Clinical Trials Unit, Dr. Jorge Sanchez is
a recognized international leader in the field of HIV/AIDS. In over 15 years of conducting studies
among MSM, female sex workers and the general population in Peru and other Latin American countries,he has demonstrated unwavering commitment to serve the populations most affected by the HIV epidemicand for fostering studies that are specifically relevant throughout South America. He is credited for creating a unique and unparalleled research climate for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment that has proven track record for enrolling volunteers.
During 1995-2000 Dr. Sanchez was the Director of Peruvian National AIDS Program within the Ministry of Health. In 2000 he established Asociacion Civil Impacta Salud y Educacion in order to investigate biomedical and public health issues around STDs, including HIV/AIDS. His interest in rectal microbicides has grown significantly over the years and reached its peak last
February when he was recruited to co-found IRMA-ALC. In the short time since then, IRMA-ALC has beenable to contribute to the main IRMA website and, more importantly, translate IRMA’s recent report “Less Silence, More Science” into Spanish (Menos Silencio, Mas Ciencia), which was launched at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico last August.
[Check out Teleconferences and Community Presentations to find examples of his work.]
Along with staying in touch with other IRMA members through teleconferences and more direct communication, Dr. Sanchez is quite busy dividing his time between numerous organizations and committees he is involved in. In particular, he holds important scientific positions in connection with NIAID-sponsored HIV/AIDS scientific networks. He serves on the Scientific Steering Committee of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), is a member of the HVTN Risk Assessment Group and the Protocol Committee, and serves as the Co-chair of a multinational vaccine study. He also serveson the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) Performance Evaluation Committee providing unique input on the implementation requirements for complex clinical studies in resource limited settings.
[Posted March 2009]
Bachir Sarr
Ottawa, Canada
“If proven safe and effective, rectal microbicides will no doubt relieve condoms of the heavy burden of protection while keeping the pleasure principle of sexuality,” says Bachir Sarr, a program consultant for the Canadian AIDS Society (CAS), the first national AIDS organization in the country. Through this organization Bachir has aided in efforts to develop, coordinate and distribute resources for member groups on issues including microbicides, providing information on HIV/AIDS to the general public via publications, telephone enquiries and the internet.
In the course of conversations with his colleagues at CAS Bachir’s interest in rectal microbicides sparked, which led to his decision to join the IRMA family.
As an IRMA member, Bachir has advocated for rectal microbicides through a CAS-sponsored list serve covering microbicides and prevention technologies.
“Rectal microbicides will not just benefit a key population but will address vulnerability factors that continue to fuel the epidemic such as condom negotiation and use,” he says.
[Posted April 2010]
Patricia Segura
Lima, Peru
Patricia became involved with IRMA (specifically IRMA-ALC) in order to explore new prevention strategies that would help decrease the impact of HIV/AIDS on the Peruvian population. To her, rectal microbicides represent an important priority as a new HIV prevention technology because little research has been done on the topic. “We do not fully understand what mechanisms can influence the prevention of HIV transmission through anal intercourse,” she says, emphasizing the need for more studies.
She is currently a research manager with Invetigaciones Medicas en Salud, INMENSA, an independent non-profit organization based in Peru. INMENSA is a founding partner of IRMA-ALC and spearheaded the effort to translate the "Less Silence More Science" report into Spanish. More than anything, Patricia understands that rectal microbicides should be further explored. Currently, feasibility studies have been implemented in Peru to get an overview of willingness to participate in preliminary studies for microbicides.
And while Patricia is an incredible, hard-working advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention, don’t be surprised by the equally amazing guitar-playing skills she developed in her free time.
[Posted July 2008]
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Eamonn Smythe
Aukland, New Zealand
Eamonn Smythe is the National Positive Health Manager for the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, providing leadership for the foundation’s four regional testing, counselling, and support centres, as well as managing contractors and relationships with peer support groups, senior clinicians, and the pharmaceutical industry. Eamonn is also a member of the Treatment Officers Network in Australia, the Auckland District Drug Advisory Committee (Med Safe), and the Access to Medicines Coalition (ATM), and also holds an extensive clinical nursing background in a number of specialties in multiple countries.
Eamonn joined IRMA after attending the IAS conference on the pathogenesis of HIV in Rio de Janeiro in 2005, where he realized there was a sound clinical base for alternative strategies.
“Rectal microbicides are of particular interest in New Zealand context, as HIV in the country is transmitted via anal intercourse without the use of a condom, and primarily in MSM communities,” he says.
He also has time to coordinate the NZAF National Candlelight Memorial and each year develops the New Zealand theme for World AIDS Day. In his spare time Eamonn sits on the board of the local community centre and helps his daughter Ciar Daire (age 11) with her homework.
[posted February 2008]
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Precious Stallworth
Los Angeles, USA
Precious Stallworth was certified as a basic health worker and HIV pre- and post- test counselor in 1996. She became interested in microbicides in 1999 while working at Common Ground, the Westside HIV Community Center, and believes that this alternate method of prevention may be the answer to the problem of condom compliance, and could “create a significant shift in the epidemic, particularly for men who have sex with men.” The ease with which other products, such as douche or sexual lubricants, are incorporated into people’s sexual practices bodes well for microbicides. Precious also cites the lack of stigmatization of microbicides as another potential asset of this new prevention technology.
Her professional interests include HIV prevention, public health, and women’s health with an emphasis on lesbian health. Precious is currently the program manager for the Sexual Health Program at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. She also has a seat on the Los Angeles County Prevention Planning Committee and the deputy chair for the Office of AIDS Programs and Policy (OAPP) HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) working group. She is an assistant teacher with Antioch University’s LGBT specialization, and in her free time enjoys spending time with her partner and children.
[posted February 2008]
Charles Stephens
Atlanta, Georgia
Charles Stephens coordinates an HIV prevention program for black gay men in Atlanta, is a member of the Prevention Research Advocacy Working Group (PRAWG) of the Community HIV/AIDS obilization Project, and contributes to LifeLube.org. With an academic background in gender and sexuality studies, he is a firm advocate for interdisciplinary approaches that view HIV from a scientific, cultural and social lens.
"I guess what I'm calling for is an increased interdisciplinary institutionalization of HIV prevention," he says. "It's bafffling to me the people I meet in Public Health and the related disciplines, that don't know Susan Sontag's "Illness as Metaphor," or Samuel Delaney's "Bridge of Lost Desire," - or Edmund White, Larry Kramer, Thomas Glave. It's impossible to have the proper intellectual tools to do HIV prevention research, especially behavioral, on say black gay men, without knowing Marlon Riggs, Essex Hemphill, Joseph Beam, Isaac Julien."
Charles was drawn to IRMA because of its stance on combined approaches to HIV prevention and the role it plays in building bridges between biomedical scientists and people working with and exploring gay men's sexuality.
"I am committed to embracing the possibilities of biomedicalprevention: microbicides, vaccines, PREP and PEP, though not blindly, and it seems to me IRMA is the perfect context to do all of this," he says, "All the while challenging the authority and privilege of biomedical science in gay men's sexual health!"
[Posted January 2010]
