OAR Director’s Seminar

Event Agenda

The Last Gift Program: Lessons Learned From Altruistic Participants Enrolled in HIV Cure Research at the End of Life

April 5, 2024
1-2:30 p.m. ET 
Virtual Zoom Event

Join the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR) for a live, virtual OAR Director’s Seminar on April 5 to hear Sara Gianella Weibel, M.D., discuss her impactful contributions as an early career investigator (ECI) in HIV across priority areas such as HIV reservoir, transmission, coinfection, and sex- and gender-related issues. The OAR Director’s Seminar is a platform to explore current and emerging scientific topics, identify research opportunities, and inform and advance the NIH HIV research program.

Dr. Gianella will discuss her research as an ECI and its ongoing impact. In line with OAR’s commitment to supporting ECIs in HIV research, the seminar aims to inspire junior investigators of the possibilities in HIV health sciences research and to increase awareness within the HIV research community of the ongoing need to support the next generation of ECIs to advance HIV research to address the epidemic.   

Register now to join us for this live seminar, “The Last Gift Program: Lessons Learned From Altruistic Participants Enrolled in HIV Cure Research at the End of Life” to learn about Dr. Gianella’s work as an ECI and its continued impact in HIV research.  

Biography

Sara Gianella Weibel, M.D., graduated from the University of Zurich in Switzerland. After completing her internal medicine residency in Switzerland, she began her fellowship in the Department of Infectious Disease and Hospital Epidemiology of the University Hospital of Zurich in 2007. She moved to UC San Diego in 2009 to work as a postdoctoral fellow with Drs. Douglas Richman and Davey Smith. She joined the faculty of the UC San Diego Department of Medicine (Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health) in 2013.

Currently, she works both at the UC San Diego Antiviral Research Center and in her laboratory onthe UC San Diego campus, where she oversees bench research. She is the director of the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Translational Virology Core and director of the AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) Virology Specialty Laboratory, where she serves as part of several clinical trial protocol teams. She also codirects the NeuroVirology and Biology Core at the HIV Neuro Behavioral Research Center, as well as the HOPE T32 Training program.

A “jack of all trades,” Dr. Gianella has a broad background in clinical and translational virology, molecular biology, and immunology. She is interested in applying the latest laboratory techniques and rigorous analytical methods to address some of the most pressing problems in infectious diseases. Her research includes investigating HIV persistence in various tissues and anatomical compartments across the human body, and she is involved in the end-of-life Last Gift program.