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International scholars meet with the University of Pittsburgh’s Ron Stall (center) to discuss their research. From left: Weibin Cheng, Eric Castellanos, Shery, Liesl Theron
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burgh, curing the global AIDS epidemic might have nothing to do with medicine. They’re not working in laboratories on the next generation of antiretrovirals, or looking for a breakthrough vaccine. They’ve been on the front lines of a problem that is at once both more elemental and infinitely complicated. Stigma. It’s why an engineer-turned-activist from Pakistan, who despite his attraction to men didn’t hear the word “gay” until he was 18, is trying to figure out why HIV-positive men in his home country often never seek treatment — even if
they know their status. Or why the first person to speak publicly about being HIV-positive in Belize is trying to understand the barriers to HIV-testing there, despite threats of assassination.
International researchers come to Pitt to battle HIV-related stigma back home {BY ALEX ZIMMERMAN} “They see the barriers in their work is not giving pills to people, it’s getting them to take the pills,” explains Ron Stall, direc-
tor of the Center for LGBT Health Research at the University of Pittsburgh. “We now have the tools that we need to stop the epidemic, but what we don’t have are ways to break through the stigma.” Under Stall’s direction, four visiting scholars from China, Pakistan, Belize and South Africa are spending the next five months devising research projects to address HIV-related health crises in their home countries. The projects range from understanding the barriers that keep people from receiving care to testing the efficacy of at-home HIV screening. The program, funded by the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and CONTINUES ON PG. 08
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.11/02.18.2015