Michael M. Lederman, M.D. – Scott R. Inkley Professor of Medicine and Co-Director, CWRU/UHC Center for AIDS Research

Dear Colleagues:

In some ways, HIV infection is now a chronic disease. Given the right combination anti-retroviral therapy, a person infected with HIV now may live a normal lifespan without the classic deadly illnesses associated with AIDS.

But at best HIV infection is a very expensive chronic disease, one that can consume huge amounts of resources, especially relative to the budgets of poor countries. Moreover, even in rich countries, delivery of care is far from ideal, HIV infection still compromises immune systems, and so there is a growing pattern of dangerous non-AIDS morbidities. So finding a cure, or reliable prevention, remains a major medical priority.

One of the world’s leaders in HIV/AIDS research is the CWRU/UH AIDS Clinical Trials Unit. It has received NIAID funding since it began operating in 1987, and in January it was awarded new funding for research both on vaccines and on microbicides – gels or foams that could disrupt the sexual transmission of HIV. Join us for a report on the prospects of some of the most important work being done at CWRU.

All best regards,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies

About Our Guest

Dr. Michael Lederman has served as intern, resident, chief resident in Medicine and fellow in Infectious Diseases at Case Western Reserve University where he joined the faculty in 1980. He is a member of the American Association of Immunologists, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the HIV Medicine Association and is a councilor of the Clinical Immunology Society. He is on the editorial boards of AIDS, the Journal of AIDS and Clinical Immunology.

Where We Meet

The Friday Public Affairs Lunch convenes each Friday when classes are in session, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. We usually meet in the Dampeer Room of Kelvin Smith Library. The Dampeer Room is on the second floor of the library. If you get off the elevators, turn right, pass the first bank of tables, and turn right again. Occasionally we need to use a different room; that will always be announced in the weekly e-mails.

Parking Possibilities

The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. From that lot there is an elevator up to street level (labeled as for the Thwing Center); it is less than 50 yards from that exit to the library entrance. You can get from the Severance garage to the library without going outside. Near the entry gates – just to the right if you were driving out – there is a door into a corridor. Walk down the corridor and there will be another door. Beyond that door you’ll find the entrance to an elevator which goes up to an entrance right inside the doors to Kelvin Smith Library.

October 31: The Midterm Election. With Karen Beckwith, Flora Stone Mather Professor of Political Science, Justin Buchler, Associate Professor of Political Science; and Andrew Lucker, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Political Science. ***Alternative Venue: LL06 B & C at Kelvin Smith Library***

November 7: ROTC Returns to Campus. With Lt. Colonel Donald Hazelwood, Northeast Ohio ROTC Commander and Professor of Military Science, John Carroll University. ***Alternative Venue: Mather House Room 100***

November 14: Perspectives on Human Subjects Research Requirements. With Suzanne Rivera Ph.D., M.S.W., Associate Vice President for Research and Assistant Professor of Bioethics. ***Alternative Venue: LL06 B & C at Kelvin Smith Library***

November 21: Local Government in an Age of Austerity. With David B. Miller, Associate Professor in the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences and Council President, City of South Euclid.

November 28: Thanksgiving Break

December 5: Godless Democrats and Pious Republicans: Party Activists and the Mythical God Gulf. With Ryan Claassen, Associate Professor of Political Science, Kent State University.