May 17, 2010

Wessner at work in his lab last year with Karen Hasty '10.

On Sunday, July 18, roughly 25,000 people from around the world will meet in Vienna, Austria, for the XVIII International AIDS Conference. Among those attending the five-day event will be Davidson's Dave Wessner, associate professor of biology and specialist in the biology of AIDS.

As part of the proceedings, Wessner will present work completed by Davidson students in his "Biology of HIV" seminar during fall semester 2009. One of their assignments was to each submit an entry for Wessner's ongoing blog, "The AIDS Pandemic."

The International AIDS Conference is the premier gathering for people working in the field of HIV, as well as policy makers, persons living with HIV and other individuals committed to ending the pandemic. It is a chance to evaluate recent scientific developments and lessons learned, and chart a course forward.

In light of the 2010 deadline set by world leaders for universal access, AIDS 2010 will coincide with a major push for expanded access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

Delegates will hear about the latest scientific advances, discuss the need for countries to reform their drug policies, and explore novel means of disseminating HIV/AIDS information to specific populations.

Former US President Bill Clinton will discuss the need for affordable treatment options, musician Annie Lennox will present a concert in support of human rights, and conference participants will learn about Vienna's harm reduction and sex worker education programs.

Wessner invites interested people to follow the conference through his reporting on it. He will tweet regularly, and post a short blog post at the end of each day.

You can keep abreast of activities by following him on Twitter and through his posts entries to his podcast.

Additionally, widgets of the official AIDS 2010 blog and a listing of all tweets related to the conference are on his website.

Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,800 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Through The Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the nation to replace loans with grants in all financial aid packages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. Davidson competes in NCAA athletics at the Division I level, and a longstanding Honor Code is central to student life at the college.
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