Fwd: Save the Date! Research Forum in April 2010

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I encourage anyone in who wants to learn about how to become a treatment activist to attend this free conference

Save the Date! Research Forum in April 2010

SAVE THE DATE:

April 20-23, 2010

Renaissance Harborplace Hotel

Baltimore, land

The HIV Research Catalyst Forum: Treatment, Prevention,

Advocacy (Formerly North American

Treatment Action Forum-NATAF) is a unique conference focusing on community

advocacy in HIV treatment and prevention research. From identifying research

priorities to overcoming research barriers, HIV advocates have driven

groundbreaking discoveries that have changed the course of this relentless

epidemic. With no cure or preventive vaccines in sight, rising new infection

rates, and the continuing death toll, our work is far from over.

The Catalyst Forum aims to revitalize community response to

the domestic and global AIDS epidemic by amplifying the voices of community

advocates in HIV treatment and prevention research. This four-day conference

will provide a rare opportunity for new advocates to gain knowledge, build

capacity, and sharpen skills; for experienced advocates to exchange ideas,

craft strategies, and tackle new challenges; and for advocacy networks to recruit

new participants and collaborators to strengthen planned or ongoing research

advocacy campaigns.

Scholarships: 150

full scholarships will be awarded to

advocates from around the country, which will cover registration, transportation,

lodging, and meals. Applicants will be selected based on their willingness and

ability to participate in a research advocacy network on an ongoing basis after

the Forum. Diversity in race, gender, age, and geographic distribution will

also be strongly considered. Online application will open on February 1st,

2010 with a deadline of February 19th.

Programming: Given

steep learning curves that can be barriers to community participation in

research advocacy, the Catalyst Forum is designed to engage participants in a

skills development and utilization process, through information gathering,

skills building, critical analysis, problem solving, and strategy development

in a dynamic learning environment.

Session formats will include:

Symposiums that provide overviews on HIV research, including

sessions on structural and biomedical prevention interventions, immune-based

therapies and vaccines, treatment updates, HIV and aging, co-morbidities, and

treatment as prevention.

Skills Building Workshops that provide skills and tools for research advocacy, including

sessions on basic research terminology, understanding data, HIV pathogenesis,

research institutions and funding, evidence-based policy in housing and

incarceration, clinical trials design, community participation in research

networks, drug development, and drug pricing and treatment access.

Brain Storming and Strategy Sessions that provide opportunities for dialogue and debate

on current challenges, identifying cross cutting issues, and formulating

strategies to address them. Topics include community-driven research

priorities, overcoming barriers to cure and vaccine research, treatment as

prevention, next steps in harm reduction, structural prevention interventions,

and clinical trials on treatment strategy.

A Town Hall

discussing the research component in the National AIDS Strategy with Federal

representatives from the Office of National AIDS Policy, Office of AIDS

Research, National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention.

The HIV Research Catalyst Forum: Treatment, Prevention, Advocacy is supported by funding from the Office of AIDS

Research (OAR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and organized by the

AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition (ATAC), Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization

Project (CHAMP), Treatment Action Group (TAG), and a growing list of

co-sponsors.

If you would like to be an organizational co-sponsor for The

Catalyst Forum, please contact at .@....

For other questions, please contact Myisha -Gaston

at Myisha@...

Visit the conference website at

www.HIVResearchCatalystForum.Org for updates.

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