SPECIAL SESSION: A 25-Year Program of Research on Living with HIV Infection

Description/Overview: I became a nurse with an interest in conducting clinical research just as the HIV epidemic began to unfold in San Francisco in the early 1980s. In retrospect, I have divided our work into three phases: pre-medications, inadequate medications, and effective medications and the presentation will explore how our program of research changed over time but always focused upon living as well as possible with HIV infection. Our work began with exploring HIV symptoms from the nurse and hospitalized patients perspective, always included quality of life as an outcome measure, and eventually added constructs of medication adherence, engagement with care, symptom management, and HIV stigma. This work allowed me the opportunity to serve on national panel providing guidelines for the care and treatment of HIV in the early 1990s and to serve on the first PEPFAR (Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) evaluation committee that conducted site visits throughout Africa to provide input to the President and Congress on the largest global health initiative in this history of development. This work continues today as I serve on the Scientific Advisory Committee for PEPFAR.