About Us
September 18, 2009 was the first National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness day. In honor of that day, Drs. Anthony Fauci, Director of the NIAID, Richard Hodes, Director of NIA, and Jack Whitescarver, Director of the NIH Office of AIDS research, wrote:
When AIDS and then its cause — HIV — were recognized in the early 1980s, no one imagined that individuals with HIV infection would eventually survive for decades. Now...the biomedical and public health communities face new challenges at the intersection of HIV and aging. In the absence of a cure for HIV, this first annual National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day marks an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to research aimed at preventing HIV infection in older adults and improving the health and quality of life of those who are infected.
Effective antiretroviral therapy has enabled people to live, and grow old, with HIV. As a result, the population with HIV is aging. In New York State, nearly 60% of people with HIV are 50 years of age or older, and more than 20% are 60+. Older adults with long-term or new HIV infection experience complex interactions among HIV, antiretroviral therapy, age-related changes to the body, and, often, treatment for illnesses associated with aging. These interactions affect the health care needs and lives of older adults. It is imperative that we in the research community decipher the medical implications of aging with HIV and continue developing more sophisticated treatment approaches. We are a collaborative team of specialists from the Divisions of Infectious Disease and Geriatric Medicine. Our research program aims to understand how HIV affects older people in order to help them lead healthy lives.