About

In 1988, Congress established the Office of AIDS Research (OAR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to coordinate research to fight the AIDS epidemic. OAR has forged collaborations with NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs), federal agencies, clinicians, researchers, and community partners to ensure that NIH HIV and AIDS funding is directed at the highest priority research areas.

Title: Senior Data Scientist

Biography

Rob Cregg, M.S., M.B.A.

Between July 18 and 21, the Office of AIDS Research (OAR) participated in the 11th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021). Conducted in alternate years, the conference features cutting-edge basic, clinical, and operational HIV/AIDS research. Although it was virtual, this year’s conference was a big success.

Over the past 40 years, substantial progress has been made in preventing and treating HIV and AIDS; however, the pandemic is far from over. 

Approximately 38 million people globally have HIV, and in 2020 approximately 1.5 million people became newly infected.¹ In the United States, an estimated 1.2 million people have HIV, and in 2019 approximately 34,800 people became newly infected.²

Just one year ago, while the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was taking a significant toll in many of our communities, the nation was contending with sequester-in-place measures, face masks, thousands of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. The pandemic laid bare health disparities that have been evident in the HIV pandemic for decades. New infections and deaths from COVID-19 have now declined significantly and many restrictions have been lifted.

Each year on June 27^th, the Office of AIDS Research (OAR) joins colleagues and friends to observe National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) to highlight and encourage HIV testing. This year’s NHTD theme is “My Test, My Way,” and provides important information on the many different HIV testing options and places to get tested.