Breakthrough of the Year

Published in the Spring 2012 Carolina Public Health Magazine

By Whitney L.J. Howell

A UNC-led team has identified a protocol that prevents the transmission of HIV, the AIDS causing virus–a feat once considered an impossible dream.

In a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases-funded study of 2,000 couples, epidemiology professor Dr. Myron Cohen and colleagues found starting antiretroviral therapy in infected partners with relatively healthy immune systems reduced HIV transmission by 96 percent. The one identified transmission likely occurred close to the time of study enrollment.

The findings were lauded as Science magazine’s “Breakthrough of the Year” in December 2011 (http://tinyurl.com/cohen-breakthrough).

“As researchers in labs, we can discover pills to improve individual health, but it’s different to develop a strategy that touches public health,” Cohen says. “This work is an unbelievable example of bench to bedside to public health.”

In April, Cohen’s research won top honor in the Clinical Research Forum’s inaugural Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards. The forum is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing national leadership in clinical research and is comprised of the nation’s most prestigious academic medical centers and health systems. Read more at http://tinyurl.com/UNC-spotlight.

To read the story at its original location: http://www.sph.unc.edu/carolina_public_health_magazine/breakthrough_of_the_year_22716_13724.html

June 6, 2012 - Posted by wjpalmer | Education, Science | Myron Cohen, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease HIV study, preventing HIV transmission, Science Magazine Breakthrough of the Year, starting antiretroviral therapy early to prevent HIV transmission

1 Comment »

Nice work, Dr. Cohen! Great article!

Comment by The Raise Project | June 6, 2012 | Reply

Who am I?

I’m a seasoned reporter, writer, freelancer and public relations specialist with a master’s degree in international print journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.

I launched my journalism career as a stringer for UPI on Sept. 11, 2001, on Capitol Hill. That day led to a two-year stint as a daily political reporter in Montgomery County, Md. As a staff writer for the Association of American Medical Colleges, a public relations specialist for the Duke University Medical Center and the public relations director for the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing, I’ve earned in-depth experience in covering health care, including academic medicine, health care reform, women’s health, pediatrics, radiology, and Medicare.

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