UH Med Now

Pictured: Dr. Cecilia Shikuma and Dr. Lishomwa Ndhlovu of the Hawaii Center for AIDS.

On Tuesday, December 1, the John A. Burns School of Medicine announced an exciting new initiative–one to eliminate HIV-AIDS in the Islands. It is called “Hawaii 2 Zero.”
The Hawaii (Hawaiʻi) Center for AIDS (HICFA) is part of the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM). HICFA is an academic program focused on HIV education, research and service, working together to reduce the burden of HIV infection and to find a cure for HIV.

Click HERE to watch our scientists and the only person in the world cured of HIV on this morning’s Hawai’i News Now Sunrise (Note: external links may expire without JABSOM control.)

“This bold initiative seeks to conduct HIV cure and prevention research directed towards ‘Hawaii to Zero,’” said Dr Lishomwa Ndhlovu, Principal Investigator, Laboratory of Molecular Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Hawaiʻi Center for AIDS.

The Hawaii to Zero (H20) Cure Initiative proposes to transform Hawaii into the first HIV-free state in the United States. The timing of the Hawaii to Zero Cure Initiative comes on the heels of scientific evidence that a patient from Berlin was cured of HIV in 2007.

“We believe Hawaii has the scientific and community infrastructure to achieve this goal,” Dr. Cecilia Shikuma, Director, Hawaii Center for AIDS.

News Conference at JABSOM on World AIDS Day. Timothy Brown is second from left.

During a news conference at JABSOM, Brown said he had a hard time believing he was the first person cured. In fact, he said he didn’t believe it until his case was published in a top-tier medical journal.

“Unfortunately, I’m the only one. I do not want to be the last one. I want there to be many others cured,” Brown said. Brown’s visit to Hawaii is helping focus attention on the world-class research conducted at the Hawaii Center for AIDS.

This weekend, on Saturday, December 5, experts in HIV Research and community leaders gather for the Hawaii 2 Zero launch conference. Brown is the special guest at this event.  On Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, Mr. Brown’s story is  featured in the world premiere of a new documentary on HBO, the “VICE Special Report: Countdown to Zero”. Catch a video glimpse of it HERE.(Note: external links could expire without JABSOM control.)

Timothy Ray Brown, photo by Scott Taber.

Read more about Mr. Brown and other conference speakers HERE.

The agenda for the Conference can be viewed at: CONFERENCE AGENDA.

The UH Clinics at Kakaako Reception Area.

New UH Clinics at Kakaako (Kakaʻako) to open Saturday                                    

Also this weekend, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, JABSOM will dedicate the new translational research space for UH Health Sciences clinicians and researchers and patients, The University of Hawaii Clinics at Kakaako. See some photos by Amanda Shell of the clinic space — the FIRST clinics on the Kakaako campus!

The University of Hawaii Clinics at Kakaako is a multi-purpose research and medical care clinic located directly on the grounds of the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM)’s Kakaako campus. This newly created clinic has a waiting/reception room, office and charting areas, eight exam rooms, a room to accommodate the dual energy absorptiometry (DXA) machine and 2 procedure rooms. Together with other research and medical clinics, this space will also be the home of the University Health Partners of Hawaii-operated Clint Spencer Clinic and the research clinics of the Hawaii Center for AIDS.

Click here to visit our HAWAII 2 ZERO website.

Note:
The John A. Burns School of Medicine supports preservation of the Native Hawaiian Language. We respectfully use proper Hawaiian diacritical marks where we can. On-line, we may neglect them in some instances to increase search ability on the internet. Where possible we also will include versions of the word (perhaps in parentheses) with its proper markings.