Media Advisory

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

NIDA Meeting to Look at Drug-Impaired Decision-Making and HIV Transmission

One of First-Ever NIH Meetings to Examine the Role between Non-Injection Drug Use and HIV/AIDS.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is holding a two day meeting to explore wide-ranging issues related to drug abuse, impaired decision making, and HIV/AIDS. Drug Abuse and Risky Behaviors: The Evolving Dynamics of HIV/AIDS will provide a broad understanding of the multiple ways that drug abuse and addiction affect the spread of HIV/AIDS and how research can inform public health policy. Presentations will focus on the successes, research challenges, and opportunities for addressing the evolving HIV/AIDS pandemic. Attendees will be drawn from the research community, public health organizations, Federal agencies, and drug abuse and HIV/AIDS organizations.

Drug abuse and addiction continue to fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS in the United States and abroad. To address this significant public health threat, research is examining every aspect of HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, and addiction, including risk behaviors associated with both injection and non-injection drug abuse, how drugs of abuse alter brain function and impair decision making, and HIV prevention and treatment strategies for diverse groups.

The meeting is being held in collaboration with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

What: Drug Abuse and Risky Behaviors: The Evolving Dynamics of HIV/AIDS.

When: Tuesday, May 8, 2007
8:15 a.m. — 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007
8:30 a.m. — 12:15 p.m.

Where: Natcher Conference Center
National Institutes of Health
9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20892

Who: Featured Speakers

Dr. Nora D. Volkow, Director, NIDA
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Director, NIAID Info: Topics that will be covered include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • How drugs of abuse alter brain function, leading to impaired decision making and risky behaviors, which in turn can facilitate the acquisition and transmission of HIV;
  • How and to what extent substance abuse influences sexual risk behaviors;
  • How substance abuse affects HIV/AIDS risk in diverse populations (e.g., adolescents, minorities, those involved with the criminal justice system); and
  • How testing and counseling can be incorporated as a key component of HIV prevention strategies for drug-abusing populations.

A full agenda and speaker list is available at: http://conferences.masimax.com/riskybehaviors/agenda.cfm

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to ensure the rapid dissemination of research information and its implementation in policy and practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and information on NIDA research and other activities can be found on the NIDA home page at www.drugabuse.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

###