HIV Conference at UChicago Looks at Problem in Minority Communities

The conference entitled “Social and Structural Determinants of HIV Infections among Minority Populations” examines the growing problem of HIV/AIDS among blacks, Latinos and imprisoned populations will be held at the University of Chicago on November 16 and 17. This two-day event is organized by the STI/HIV Intervention Network (SHINE), which is based at the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration. The network uses innovative biomedical, behavioral and structural initiatives to reduce HIV infections among minority youth, men who have sex with men, and people who are incarcerated. The conference events will also promote free rapid HIV testing at clinics on the west and south sides. Dexter Voisin, Associate Professor at SSA, is the principal investigator for SHINE. Voisin has studied pathways of high rates of community violence exposure and increased risky sex behavior among urban youth. “The number of known HIV infections in the United States has remained relatively stable over the past ten years at an annual rate of about 55,000,” he said. “However, minority women and youth, African American and Latino men having sex with men, and incarcerated populations continue to be disproportionately infected,” he added. “These groups have HIV rates that are eight to ten times higher than other segments of the population.” UChicago scholars in addition to Voisin participating in the conference are Alida Bouris, Assistant Professor at SSA; Matthew Epperson, Assistant Professor at SSA; Stuart Michaels, Senior Research Scientist at NORC, and John Schneider, Assistant Professor, University of Chicago Medicine. On November 16, Dr. Robert Fullilove, Professor and Associate Dean for Community and Minority Affairs at Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University will deliver the keynote address on “Mass Incarceration As a Social Driver of HIV/AIDS in the United States.” Additional speakers and discussants from the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois, Northwestern and Loyola Universities and a number of community partners will also present. See separate listing for Sheryl Lee Ralph's one woman play, “Sometimes I Cry”

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