During the week of World AIDS Day, 20 scientists from the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology marked the event with visits to local schools with high minority enrollments, or strong biotech and health academies. Meeting with 20 classrooms and speaking to 500 students in order to discuss the continued threat of AIDS, the presenters discussed HIV prevention, described HIV research that is taking place at Gladstone, and briefly described their own career paths in science. They ended with some exciting science directly out of their own lab books.

The visited SFUSD schools included high schools Mission, Wallenberg, Galileo, Burton, and Lincoln; middle school KIPP Bayview Academy; and elementary school Tenderloin Community School. Gladstone has established a relationship with local schools through its Community Student Outreach Committee and has been fortunate to work with very committed administrators and teachers with a shared goal of inspiring future scientists and research staff by promoting science education and scientific careers for students, in addition to spreading the word about the continued threat of HIV/AIDS to both local and global communities.

Scientists from GIVI who participated included postdoctoral fellows Nadia Roan, Steffi Sowinski, Dorothee Alatorre, and Gregory Camus; research scientist Marielle Cavrois; graduate students Nicole Byers, Orlando Zepeda, Brian Webster, Isa Munoz-Arias, and Leonard Chavez; research associates Joey Pham, Ashley Hughey, Patricia Defechereux, Darshana Bhattacharyya, and Simon Chu; Investigators Shomi Sanjabi, Melanie Ott, Eric Verdin; and GIVI Director Warner Greene. Shannon Noonan, Gladstone Community Outreach Specialist, played a key role in organizing this event.

Everyone is excited to continue this essential outreach for the fourth year in 2011, especially in light of the questions students posed this year, which indicate continued education and information about this pandemic is absolutely crucial to stem the rise in HIV infections, especially in youth, minorities and women, groups facing rising infection rates.

2010 World AIDS Day Outreach Volunteers: (Front Row) Joey Pham, Ashley Hughey, Patricia Defechereux (2nd Row) Shomi Sanjabi, Nadia Roan, Melanie Ott, Steffi Sowinski, Darshana Bhattacharyya (3rd Row) Simon Chu, Nicole Byers, Dorothee Alatorre, Orlando Zepeda (Rear Row) Brian Webster, Marielle Cavrois, Shannon Noonan (coordinator), Isa Munoz-Arias, Eric Verdin, Warner Greene. (Not pictured) Leonard Chavez and Gregory Camus.