The searcHIV project was completed on May 31st, 2019. Even though the grant has ended, many of the ideas and activities will move forward. We started this project with the intention of exploring HIV cure research in the United States, South Africa, and China. We used a wide variety of tools – ethical, anthropological, historical, sociological, and social media – to consider how ongoing HIV cure research may affect people living with HIV and the broader HIV movement. The project contributed to the development of International AIDS Society HIV cure strategic priorities, generated many manuscripts, and helped build a community movement towards an HIV cure at these three sites. Through all these events and projects, we have learned so much from community members about how best to engage people on HIV cure research.
The searcHIV project has benefitted from the hard work and talents of our multidisciplinary team. We would like to thank our Principal Investigators, Dr. Joseph Tucker and Dr. Stuart Rennie; our Co-Investigators over the course of the project, Prof. Keymanthri Moodley, Ms. Melany Hendricks, Dr. Raul Necochea, Dr. Gail Henderson, Dr. Benjamin Mason Meier, Dr. Jing-Bao Nie, Dr. Linghua Li, Dr. Karine Dube, Dr. Weiping Cai, Dr. Lisa Hightow-Weidman, Dr. Kate Muessig, Dr. Malcolm De Roubaix, Dr. Johanna Crane, and Dr. David Margolis; our previous and current postdoctoral researchers, Dr. Allison Mathews, Dr. Adam Gilbertson, Dr. Ciara Staunton, Dr. Adriane Gelpi, Dr. Qingyan Ma, and Dr. Suzanne Day; and all our wonderful research assistants, including Ms. Samantha Farley, Ms. Xin Pan, Mr. Feng Wu, Dr. Carissa Chu, Dr. Zach Rich, Dr. Alice Zhang, Ms. Zulpha Geyer, Mr. Dianno Baatjies , Dr. Farah Cassim, Ms. Kelsey February, Ms. Catie Gliwa, Ms. MaryBeth Grewe, Ms. Elizabeth Kelly, Ms. Meredith Blumberg, Ms. Kimberly Knight, Ms. Thi Vu, Ms. Hailey Mason, and Mr. Yang Zhao. We would like to thank our tireless community volunteers, including Ms. Angela Vick, Ms. Rita McDaniel Anderson, Ms. Debra West, Mr. Michael Wilson, Mr. LeDarrius Turner, Ms. Indiana Giordani, Mr. Kristopher Blue, Mr. Oliver Eisenbeis, Mr. Art Jackson, Ms. Lisa Quarles, Ms. Caressa Harding, and Ms. Danita King. We would also like to thank the local businesses and community organizations that have worked with us, including the Durham County Department of Public Health, Partnership for a Healthy Durham, Beyu Caffe, Iset Excelsior, The Lux Blog NC, NCCU Department of Public Health Education, Project IFE, Radio One Raleigh, LGBTQ Center of Durham, UNC TV, The Art of Cool Project, Lincoln Community Health Center, Afrofolk Art by Freedom Clay, SESH Global, and Healing with CAARE, iKraal, Dr. Riaad Moosa, Zackie Achmat, and the Famcru Clinic staff at Tygerberg Hospital, South Africa, among others. Thank you also to the HIV clinical researchers who collaborated with us on many of our projects, including Prof. Mark Cotton, Ms. Joan Coetzee, Prof. Theresa Rossouw, Dr. Lulu Nair, Dr. Cynthia Gay, Dr. Myron Cohen, Dr. Ron Strauss, and Ms. JoAnn Kuruc. A special note of thanks goes to Dr. Ron Swanstrom and the UNC Center for Aids Research (UNC CFAR), for supporting a HIV cure workshop at the Brocher Foundation in Switzerland that inspired many collaborations and research ideas.
Lastly, and most importantly, we would like to thank all of the community members, Community Advisory Board members, and research participants who have made our project possible. We could not have done any of this without your attendance, participation, and support! We would like to especially thank those community members who worked tirelessly as advocates to spread the word of our research activities among the community and encourage participation in our events.
We are so proud of the work accomplished by our team and participants throughout this project, and we are excited for this work to continue in various capacities. Several other grants and projects have grown from searcHIV, including research projects on acute HIV, HIV testing, and HIV and aging. In addition, the 2BeatHIV project will continue as its own organization; stay in touch via their website (http://2beathiv.org) and follow them on social media (Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2beathiv/; Twitter: https://twitter.com/2BeatHIV).
If you want to learn more about HIV cure and HIV news, be sure to check out these resources: https://www.poz.com, https://aidsinfo.nih.gov/understanding-hiv-aids, https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/index.html. If you want to learn more about HIV cure clinical trials at UNC Chapel Hill and see if you are eligible, you can visit this site https://www.med.unc.edu/infdis/actu/current-studies/hiv-cure-related-studies/, or call(919) 445-2772 and ask about current studies
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