Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, the Emory Center for AIDS Research, the Atlanta Region Geriatric Education Center, and the Center for Neurocognitive Studies hosted a conference this week on HIV & Aging: From Mitochondria to the Metropolis. 

The Oct. 2 and 3 event, held at the Marriott Courtyard in Decatur, Georgia, features keynote speaker Amy C. Justice, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine. Justice has conducted extensive research that focuses on outcomes in chronic HIV infection. 

"We have gained considerable knowledge and breakthroughs in HIV research as well as gerontology," says Kenneth W. Hepburn, PhD, professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. "Because of this, we see people living longer with HIV and transitioning into a new dimension of care that is needed as a senior living with HIV. This conference is designed to address those emerging issues and combine these two fields in order to engender positive health outcomes." 

Panel sessions are designed to help advance science and clinical care of the aging population living with HIV. The conference also includes experts and investigators who are exploring new aspects and models for the emerging field of HIV and aging. Other highlights include six patient panelists who are HIV positive and who will share their experiences transitioning into older adulthood while living with HIV.

The inaugural conference will provide participants the opportunity to hear from internationally recognized HIV and aging experts while networking with leading scientists, educators and clinicians focused on gerontology and HIV-related studies. 

The conference was supported by National Institutes of Health grant R13 AG047064-01

For more information about the conference, visit http://www.nursing.emory.edu/news/events/hiv-aging/docs/HIV-Aging_Conference_Program.pdf