A newly formed panel designed to promote HIV/AIDS awareness internationally has appointed a chairman with a connection to the Big Apple, officials announced last week at a medical conference in Durbin, South Africa.
Salim Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist and professor at Columbia University, was appointed chairman of the newly formed United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS’ (UNAIDS) scientific panel, based in Durbin. Karim will head a panel of scientific and medical experts about new advancements and strategies in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
In a statement released last week at a conference in Geneva, Switzerland, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said the appointment of Karim as lead expert of the systemic and innovative group is a major step in the international fight against HIV/AIDS.
“To reach the end of the AIDS epidemic, we need to continue to embrace science and innovation,” Sidibe said. “Science has the power to illuminate the future path in defeating AIDS.”
Sidibe has conducted extensive research on HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases for years at Columbia University and other notable educational institutions around the world. To find out more about UNAIDS, visit the organization’s website at www.unaids.com.