World AIDS Day During COVID-19: AU Experts Offer Insights
What: How have lessons from the HIV/AIDS pandemic inform our response to COVID-19? What has been the impact of COVID-19 on people living with HIV/AIDS and HIV research? AU experts are available to share their insights into these and many other questions.
When: November 23, 2020 - ongoing
How: Facetime, Skype, phone or Zoom
Background: AU experts who are available for interviews include:
Prof. Kim Blankenship is a sociologist in AU’s College of Arts and Sciences and Co-Director of the Developmental Core of the District of Columbia Center for AIDS Research, or DC CFAR. She is also Director of AU’s Center on Health, Risk and Society. Blankenship can discuss inequities with regard to HIV risk and treatment-related outcomes; how policies and practices related to policing, incarceration, and housing instability relate to HIV; and the lessons from HIV in approaches to fighting COVID-19 such as disease risk, inequities in vulnerability to the virus, trust in the medical system/medical science, and the social nature of disease.
Rachel Sullivan Robinson is an associate professor in the School of International Service at American University. Her research focuses on sex-related health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa, including family planning, HIV/AIDS, and sexuality education. Robinson can comment on the intersections of COVID-19 and HIV, particularly how HIV interventions have, and have not, prepared countries for addressing COVID-19.
Nina Yamanis is an associate professor in the School of International Service. Her research focuses on health disparities and community-based interventions to improve health among vulnerable groups, and the role of social networks in HIV transmission. In 2017 she was awarded a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to examine resilience and health in immigrant communities in Washington, D.C. and Prince George’s County, Maryland. Prof. Yamanis is available to comment on issues related to U.S. Latinx immigrants, including the undocumented, and access to health care, and HIV, and how to reach under-served and vulnerable populations with public health interventions.
About American University
In its 127-year history, American University has established a reputation for producing change makers focused on the challenges of a changing world. AU has garnered recognition for global education, public service, experiential learning and politically active and diverse students, as well as academic and research expertise in a wide range of areas including the arts, sciences, humanities, business and communication, political science and policy, governance, law and diplomacy.
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