05 Oct 2017

Hot topics in HIV: Vaccines, Immune Recovery and Eradication 2017

HIV
On-site
English
Hotel Condes de Barcelona

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Information

HIV infection remains a major public health threat worldwide. Around 37 million people are infected and only 18.2 million have access to antiretroviral treatment. Since the start of the epidemic 78 million have become infected and 35 million have died from AIDS-related illness. There are approximately 2 million new HIV infections every year and it is estimated that a mere 54% of people with HIV globally know they are infected.

After more than 30 years researching the HIV infection, seems clear that the solution needs to come from the therapeutic cure, since preventative measures have proved to be insufficient to stop the epidemic and cure those who suffer from the infection.
Research on HIV infection progresses rapidly and gives room for hope. At this moment the possibility of eradicating the virus or discover an effective vaccine are the two main strategic lines in the fight against the disease.

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Coordinators

Bonaventura Clotet

President of the Fight Infections Foundation and Director of the IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute

Fundació Lluita contra les Infeccions, Badalona, Spain. Institut d'Investigació del Sida IrsiCaixa i Institut Català de la Salut, Badalona, Spain.

Bonaventura Clotet

President of the Fight Infections Foundation and Director of the IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute

Dr. Clotet received his MD (1976) and his PhD (1981), with a thesis on autoimmune diseases, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). That same year, his internship as an Internal Medicine specialist at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona coincided with the first AIDS case reported in Spain. This case was the catalyst for a career dedicated to this serious disease, first as head of the HIV Unit of the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital in Badalona (1987-2015) and then as founder and president of the Fight against AIDS Foundation (1992), which is now named as Fight Infections Foundation.

Dr. Clotet soon saw the need to go a step beyond patient care to conduct research aimed at eradicating AIDS. In 1995, with the support of “la Caixa” and the Department of Health of the Generalitat of Catalonia, he founded the IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute, which he still heads. In addition, Dr. Clotet is also the clinical director of Infectious Diseases at the Metropolitana Nord area of the Catalan Institute of Health, scientific advisor to two IrsiCaixa spin-offs: Aelix Therapeutics SL and AlbaJuna Therapeutics SL and director of the Chair of AIDS and Related Diseases at the Universitat de Vic (UVic).

He has published more than 1000 papers in high impact international journals and his contributions to research have been recognized with the Josep Trueta medal to Sanitary Merit and the ‘Premi Nacional de Recerca’, among other awards.