[Press Kit, International Conference on AIDS (16th: 2006: Toronto, Canada)]

AIDS 2006
nADeverassnsaac Plenary Speaker Bios
'MONDAY, 14 August
Current Challenges in the Global Response
(8:45, Session Room 1)
Julie OVERBAUGH, PhD, USA
HIV transmission and pathogenesis: A viral perspective
Dr. Julie Overbaugh is a Member and Associate Program Head at the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Her work focuses on various aspects of HIV-1
transmission and pathogenesis, and is noted for its emphasis on translational research. She
has worked closely with the Kenya/Seattle collaborative group for the past 12 years,
including on a number of studies of mother to child transmission of HIV-1. Her group's
studies have demonstrated that viruses which evolve over the course of infection are more
pathogenic, in part because they have escaped neutralizing antibody control. Her group has
also demonstrated that viruses transmitted to women tend to be more genetically diverse
than those transmitted to men, particularly in women with sexually transmitted diseases or
women who use hormonal contraceptives. Her recent work has highlighted that HIV-1 -positive women continue to be at risk for re-infection. Dr. Overbaugh served as Chair of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant review panel on the molecular biology of HIV-1,
Editor for Journal of Virology, organizer of several international meetings, and a member of
the NIH Office of AIDS Research advisory committee. She received an Elizabeth Glaser
Scientist Award and an NIH Merit award.
Chris BEYRER, MD, MPH, United States
HIV epidemiology update and transmission factors: Risks and risk contexts
Dr. Chris Beyrer is Associate Professor in the Departments of Epidemiology and
International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is the
Director of Johns Hopkins Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program and
founder and Director of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins.
He also serves as Senior Scientific Liaison and Chair of the Injecting Drug Use Working
Group of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. Dr. Beyer obtained his medical degree from the
State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, and did his public
health and infectious diseases training at Johns Hopkins. He currently has research and/or
training activities in Thailand, China, Burma, India, Laos, Malawi, Uganda, Ethiopia, South
Africa, Brazil, Russia, and the United States. Dr. Beyer has published extensively on
HIV/AIDS epidemiology and prevention research, HIV vaccine research, and public health
and human rights and authored the 1998 book War in the Blood: Sex, Politics and AIDS in
Southeast Asia. He served as a consultant to the World Bank Institute, World Bank Thailand
Office, National Institutes of Health Office of AIDS Research Levi Strauss Foundation, U.S.
Military HIV Research Program, Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of
Military Medicine, Open Society Institute, Royal Thai Army, and numerous other
organizations.

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