NIH World AIDS Day 2024 Event Executive Summary: Progress, Innovation, and Impact in HIV Research

The NIH World AIDS Day 2024 Event: Progress, Innovation, and Impact in HIV Research took place via Zoom on December 4, 2024. Full video recording coming soon.

Each year, World AIDS Day provides an opportunity to unite in efforts to end the global HIV pandemic, show support for those with and affected by HIV, and remember those who have lost their lives to HIV-related illness. NIH commemorated the 2024 observance with a virtual event focused on progress, innovation, and impact in HIV research.

Organized by the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR) and held on December 4, 2024, the event featured a moderated panel discussion and public question and answer session. Nearly 500 people joined the conversation, which highlighted:

Recent groundbreaking progress in HIV research, including the development of novel strategies to encourage HIV prevention, testing, and treatment.
The importance of sustained investment in HIV research that is responsive to the needs of communities.
Opportunities to get successful interventions to those who need them to improve health and achieve health equity.

NIH concluded the event with a tribute to individuals lost in the HIV movement in the preceding year.

Panel Discussion

The event discussion featured the following panelists and moderators:

Geri R. Donenberg, Ph.D., Associate Director for AIDS Research and Director, Office of AIDS Research, NIH [co-moderator]

Francisco Ruiz, M.S., Director, White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) [co-moderator]

Latesha Elopre, M.D., M.S.P.H., Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Disease, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Eric Freed, Ph.D., Senior Investigator and Director, HIV Dynamics and Replication Program, National Cancer Institute, NIH

Jeanne Marrazzo, M.D., M.P.H., Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH

LaRon E. Nelson, Ph.D., RN, Independence Foundation Professor of Nursing, Yale School of Nursing

The event opened with remarks from panel discussion co-moderators Geri Donenberg, Ph.D., NIH Associate Director of HIV Research and Director of OAR, and Francisco Ruiz, M.S., Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP).

Dr. Donenberg highlighted the role of OAR as coordinating the HIV research program across NIH and its collaborations across the federal government and academic and community partners. She celebrated the incredible successes in HIV research that have transformed HIV from a once-fatal disease into a manageable chronic condition and emphasized the structural and social factors that continue to impede access, reach, and adoption of effective prevention and treatment strategies.

Mr. Ruiz contextualized the day’s event within the multifaceted federal World AIDS Day commemoration, which included the first-ever display of the AIDS Quilt on the White House South Lawn, a December 5 symposium focused on the quality of life for people with HIV, and the upcoming launch of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) Progress Report. While recognizing the progress made in reducing HIV incidence—notably, incidence among Americans aged 13 and older decreased by 12 percent from 2018 to 2022, and people aged 13 to 24 saw a dramatic 30 percent decrease, he highlighted efforts needed to address remaining health disparities, particularly among Black and Hispanic Americans.

The panel discussion highlighted three primary topics: progress, innovation, and impact in HIV research.

Progress in HIV Research

Dr. Donenberg spoke to decades of investment across the research continuum—basic science (including social behavioral science), clinical research, implementation science, and population health—that have led to remarkable progress toward preventing and treating HIV.

Dr. Marrazzo, who oversees the largest NIH partner institute in the NIH HIV research portfolio, highlighted recent research advances, the role of NIH in the HIV research ecosystem, and the critical need for continued research across the entire spectrum of basic, translational and implementation science. Discussion on recent advances in HIV research included:

The first safe and effective twice-yearly injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) regimen using a drug, lenacapavir, developed with foundational science discoveries of NIH-supported investigators in partnership with industry scientists.
A landmark clinical study report that multiple children who acquired HIV before birth and started ART in the first days of life remained free of detectable HIV for more than one year after their treatment was paused, proving a concept for further study with more advanced therapeutics.
Mounting evidence to reinforce the safety of oral, vaginal ring, and long-acting injectable PrEP formulations in pregnancy.

The conversation turned to the role of innovation in sustaining and accelerating progress.

Innovation in HIV Research

Mr. Ruiz discussed the importance of collaboration across government, health care providers, researchers, and community to foster innovation and support equitable health outcomes.

Dr. Freed, an NIH researcher whose pioneering work on the capsid was fundamental to the game-changing development of lenacapavir, spoke to the translational potential of basic science findings into treatment and shared insights on the critical importance of basic research and public-private partnership to drive the innovation needed to end the HIV epidemic.

From an implementation science perspective, Dr. Elopre, a researcher focused on how to prevent HIV among vulnerable populations facing high levels of stigma, called for human-centered, whole-person approaches to addressing key barriers. In a community experiencing an HIV outbreak, for example, she identified the need to better understand the contributing factors behind the outbreak to help get the right treatments and services to the people who need them. She elaborated on human-centered approaches that challenge the structural, interpersonal, and policy barriers people face when trying to access HIV services.

Impact in HIV Research

Dr. Donenberg transitioned the conversation to future investments needed across the research continuum to ensure that new innovations reach the communities that need them—ultimately driving impact, increasing health equity, and achieving epidemic control.

Dr. Nelson, a Yale Professor of Nursing whose work has focused on implementation strategies to reduce race and sexuality-based disparities in HIV outcomes, called for coordinated, whole-of-government and cross-sectoral action to drive impact. He also called out economic issues driving adoption of interventions and the need to incentivize uptake of effective prevention and treatment in some populations at higher risk for HIV. Describing a study he is leading among communities in the South, he highlighted excitement among clinics that celebrate the efficacy of drugs like lenacapavir, but also worry about how they will pay for the medication and make it work for their patients. “Thinking about how to make the economics [of these medications] work is going to be key,” Dr. Nelson said.

Mr. Ruiz also noted that life circumstances and social determinants of health like housing instability, health care access, stigma, and discrimination make a difference in how well a person will adhere to treatment and prevention. He spoke to the Administration’s efforts to center the people it serves and to prioritize the development of policy that is informed by the lived experiences of people with HIV and by the context in which they’ll be implemented. “Yes, we have these tools,” Mr. Ruiz said. “But how do we make sure they reach the communities in a way that is effective and culturally relevant to the needs that they have? Obviously, folks are living with housing issues, employment issues. They're not thinking about a PrEP pill. They're not thinking about going in to get an injection. They're thinking about, ‘How am I getting food on my table? How am I getting a roof over my head?’”

The panelists rounded out the discussion with a conversation emphasizing the need for a whole-government approach to ending the HIV pandemic and planning for sustainable efforts.

Question and Answer Session

Mr. Ruiz led an animated question and answer session from the live audience. Topics included:

Allowing for greater participation of community members as partners, not just participants, in the development and implementation of HIV research.
Recent reforms to the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act, which expand access to live-saving organ transplants for people with HIV.
Opportunities to better meet the needs of people aging with HIV and ensure their participation across all stages of research. The panel highlighted dedicated NIH collaborations to help people with HIV live longer, healthier lives, such as research aimed at improving cardiovascular health outcomes and efforts to help investigators engage in aging research.
Behavior change and HIV prevention, particularly among young people. Panelists highlighted the responsibility of researchers and healthcare providers to ensure their communications and services account for the unique needs of adolescents. Additional discussion included the need to bring young people into the research process; the role of trusted family members as safe spaces for young people; and sensitivities engaging adolescents who may not have the ability to have private health records and who may not want their sexuality to be disclosed to their parents or guardians.
Clarifying the scope of NIH, federal partners, and other external parties in the development and distribution of new drugs to prevent and treat HIV.

At several points, the conversation highlighted the concept, “Nothing About Us Without Us,” which emphasizes that decisions affecting a particular group of people should not be made without their direct involvement and input.

Tribute & Closing

The event closed with a tribute to the estimated 42 million lives lost to HIV-related causes, including an estimated 630,000 people in 2023. NIH also honored leaders in the HIV response who were lost in the preceding year, including:

Dr. Adaora Adimora, an esteemed researcher of the epidemiology of heterosexual HIV transmission among African Americans, social determinants of health that drive health disparities, and women and HIV.
Mr. A. Cornelius Baker, a steadfast advocate for people with HIV, LGBTQ+ rights, and health equity; a leader in establishing multiple initiatives that shape the federal and community responses to HIV; and a long-time advisor to NIH OAR.
Ms. Hydeia Broadbent, an AIDS activist who was born with HIV and became a leading voice in the fight against the epidemic.
Dr. Steven D. Douglas, whose exploration of the neuroimmunology of HIV led to the development of novel targets for the treatment of viral inflammation and infection.
Dr. Gao Yaojie, a pioneer in HIV activism whose efforts to expose the HIV epidemic in China helped result in the creation of policies to prevent and control HIV.
Dr. Victoria Anne Johnson, a pioneer in HIV drug resistance research and in the use of combination antiretroviral drug regimens that are now standard approaches in HIV treatment.

“We join the entire HIV community in celebrating their impact and drawing inspiration from their legacies to affirm our commitment to the HIV movement,” remarked event emcee and OAR Acting Deputy Director CAPT Mary Glenshaw, Ph.D., MPH.

Resources

For more information, read the NIH Statement on World AIDS Day 2024 and view highlights of the federal World AIDS Day commemoration.

This page last reviewed on December 20, 2024