For many of us, summer brings sun, time at the beach with friends and family, sports events, and travelling to scientific conferences. If you are lucky you can combine all of the above! This summer, our URBAN ARCH investigators travelled around the country and beyond to present research findings and learn about scientific developments in the fields of HIV and alcohol use. \u00a0Conferences are a great venue for sharing study results and networking with a range of individuals working in the field on a national or international level. Highlights of the summer conference season included trips to the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) conference in Bellevue, Washington; the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the International AIDS conference in Melbourne, Australia. URBAN ARCH researchers presented on a variety of topics using data from our ARCH cohorts and the repository.<\/p>\n
\n
Research Society on Alcoholism<\/strong><\/p>\n The 37th Annual Research Society on Alcoholism meeting took place in Bellevue, Washington on June 21-25.<\/p>\n Rich Saitz<\/a> presented his Boston ARCH poster \u201cNo association detected between alcohol consumption and bone mineral density in HIV infected adults with substance dependence<\/a>.\u201d This is the first report of research findings from the Boston team. Jeffrey Samet, Judy Hahn, and Evgeny Krupitsky also attended the RSA conference and took advantage of being in the same time zone to talk about the Uganda and Russia ARCH studies and future grant ideas. URBAN ARCH Investigators also met with Kendall Bryant, our NIAAA Scientific Collaborator, and all of the other CHAART investigators (NIAAA HIV \u2013 Alcohol Consortium).<\/p>\n College on Problems of Drug Dependence<\/strong> (CPDD)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Pictures (l-r): Evgeny Krupitsky and Karsten Lunze; Tetiana Kiriazova; Tetiana and Karsten.<\/p>\n This year the College on Problems of Drug Dependence took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico on June 14-19. Tetiana Kiriazova<\/a> presented her abstract \u201cFactors associated with study attrition among Russian HIV-infected heavy drinkers<\/a>\u201d, which was recently published as a paper in HIV Clinical Trials<\/a>. \u00a0This analysis examined HERMITAGE<\/a> data housed in the URBAN ARCH data repository. Drs. Saitz, Samet, Walley, Krupitsky, and Zvartau also participated in this conference.<\/p>\n International AIDS Conference<\/strong><\/p>\n The 20th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference was in Melbourne, Australia from July 20-25. URBAN ARCH trainee, Nadia Fairbairn, an internal medicine trainee at University of British Columbia, presented her poster \u201cMortality in HIV-Infected Substance Users in Russia<\/a>\u201d, based on data from the\u00a0HERMITAGE<\/a> study. Nadia was joined at the meeting by fellow URBAN ARCH members Jeffrey Samet and trainee Kinna Thakarar, an infectious diseases trainee at Boston University. This impressive IAS Conference gathering of researchers, medical professionals, government agencies, and community groups sparked research ideas and future collaborations.<\/p>\n Pictures (l-r): Nadia Fairbairn and Jeffrey Samet; Kinna Thakarar and Jeffrey; Jeffrey and Julia Godunova.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/a> In this issue, we interview Debbie Cheng, ScD, Principal Investigator (PI) of the Biostatistics and Data Management Core and Professor of Biostatistics at the Boston University School of Public Health.<\/p>\n On The Ground<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Click on the buttons to see what the URBAN ARCH Cohorts and Cores have been working on.<\/p>\n![\"Rich](\"\/urbanarch\/files\/2014\/08\/Rich-RSA.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/a>Spotlight on\u2026Debbie Cheng<\/a><\/p>\n
\n