Patrick Kelly crosses the finish line during last year’s ‘Hope Springs Eternal’ run to commemorate National HIV Vaccine Awareness Day. (Photo courtesy the Hope Clinic)
Atlanta marks HIV Vaccine Awareness Day Run, symposium draw attention to local vaccine efforts
The Hope Clinic of the Emory Vaccine Center
603 Church St., Decatur
404-377-3719 or 877-424-HOPE vaccine@emory.edu
“The role of the Black Church in combating HIV/AIDS in the African-American Community: Focusing on HIV Vaccines”
May 18, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Hopewell Baptist Church
182 Hunter St., Norcross
Sponsored by the Hope Clinic, SisterLove Inc. and Hopewell Baptist Church
Hope Springs Eternal 5K Run/Walk
May 19
8 a.m. race-day registration; 9 a.m. run
Main Pavilion, Decatur Square
$25 registration fee by May 16; $30 after
404-327-7738 www.rungeorgia.com/hopeeternal.html
TEN
YEARS
AGO
NEXT
WEEK,
PRESIDENT
BILL
CLINTON
gave
the
commencement
speech
at
the
historically
black
college
Morgan
State
University
in
Maryland
and
called
on
scientists
to
find
an
HIV
vaccine.
“Here
at
home,
we
are
grateful
that
new
and
effective
anti-HIV
strategies
are
available
and
bringing
longer
and
better
lives
to
those
who
are
infected,
but
we
dare
not
be
complacent,”
Clinton
said
in
his
May
18,
1997,
speech.
“HIV
is
capable
of
mutating
and
becoming
resistant
to
therapies
and
could
well
become
even
more
dangerous.
Only
a
truly
effective,
preventive
HIV
vaccine
can
limit
and
eventually
eliminate
the
threat
of
AIDS.
“Today,
let
us
commit
ourselves
to
developing
an
AIDS
vaccine
within
the
next
decade,”
he
added.
“There
are
no
guarantees.
It
will
take
energy
and
focus
and
demand
great
effort
from
our
greatest
minds.
But
with
the
strides
of
recent
years,
it
is
no
longer
a
question
of
whether
we
can
develop
an
AIDS
vaccine,
it
is
simply
a
question
of
when.”
Although
a
decade
later
no
vaccine
is
available,
researchers
say
they
are
making
huge
strides
in
finding
a
vaccine.
Dr.
Mark
Mulligan,
executive
director
of
the
Hope
Clinic
of
the
Emory
Vaccine
Center,
believes
one
will
be
developed
in
our
lifetime.
“I
think
there
is
genuine
excitement
in
the
field,”
says
Mulligan,
who
has
worked
in
vaccine
research
since
1989.
THE
EMORY
VACCINE
Center
is
working
on
several
clinical
trials
for
an
HIV
vaccine
and
is
a
worldwide
leader
in
HIV
vaccine
research.
One
ongoing
trial
at
the
Hope
Clinic
is
the
Step
Study,
a
multi-center
international
study
of
an
HIV
vaccine
developed
by
Merck
&
Co.
Inc.
Out
of
some
3,000
male
and
female
volunteers
between
the
ages
of
18
and
45
worldwide,
the
Hope
Clinic
has
130
volunteers
participating
in
the
Phase
II
clinical
trial,
Mulligan
says.
The
study
has
enrolled
volunteers
who
are
HIV
negative
and
generally
healthy,
but
who
have
certain
risk
factors
for
HIV.
The
vaccine
candidate
used
in
this
study
has
generated
strong
and
durable
cellular
immune
responses
against
HIV
in
early
human
trials,
according
to
Mulligan.
The
Step
Study
is
a
collaboration
of
Merck
&
Co.,
Inc.,
the
HIV
Vaccine
Trials
Network
and
the
National
Institute
of
Allergy
&
Infectious
Diseases,
which
funds
and
supports
the
HVTN.
The
vaccine
candidate,
known
as
the
MRKAd5
HIV-1
gag/pol/nef,
or
trivalent,
vaccine,
is
based
on
adenovirus,
a
common
cold
virus
that
has
been
modified
so
that
it
cannot
reproduce
and
cause
a
cold
in
humans,
Mulligan
explains.
The
adenovirus
is
used
as
a
vector,
or
a
delivery
vehicle,
to
transport
three
synthetically
produced
HIV
genes
into
cells.
These
genes
stimulate
the
body
to
generate
a
potent
cellular
immune
response
to
HIV,
producing
an
army
of
killer
T-cells
programmed
to
recognize
and
kill
HIV-infected
cells,
he
adds.
No
live
HIV
is
used
in
the
production
of
the
vaccine
candidate,
so
the
vaccine
candidate
cannot
cause
HIV
infection
or
AIDS,
Mulligan
stresses.
“Those
we
are
using
now
are
much
stronger
than
they
were
just
five
to
10
years
ago,”
he
says.
PATRICK
KELLY,
A
GAY
MAN
AND
spokesperson
for
the
Atlanta-based
National
AIDS
Education
&
Services
for
Minorities,
says
the
reason
it
is
important
to
recognize
National
HIV
Vaccine
Awareness
Day
is
to
spotlight
the
need
for
volunteers
to
participate
in
clinical
trials.
Kelly,
who
sits
on
the
community
advisory
board
for
the
Hope
Clinic,
says
he
knows
the
skepticism
many
African
Americans
have
when
it
comes
to
clinical
trials,
noting
the
unethical
experiments
on
Tuskegee,
Ala.,
farmers
between
1932-1972.
The
sharecroppers
were
denied
syphilis
treatment
as
part
of
a
study
of
the
disease.
NAESM,
the
Hope
Clinic,
SisterLove
Inc.
and
Hopewell
Baptist
Church,
as
well
as
other
organizations
including
AID
Atlanta
and
AIDS
Survival
Project,
are
working
together
to
put
on
a
symposium
May
18
to
dispel
myths
of
participating
in
HIV
vaccine
clinical
trials.
The
symposium
is
also
reaching
out
specifically
to
the
African-American
community
and
the
black
church.
“The
only
way
a
vaccine
can
work
is
if
people
enter
into
trials,”
Kelly
says.
“We
especially
need
black
people
to
participate.
HIV
is
affecting
our
community
drastically
—
men,
women,
children,
young
and
old.
We
need
to
get
into
the
trials.”
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