SFAF.org Podcast #65 - Ryan White reauthorized in a climate of health care reform

In this episode Ernest Hopkins, the Foundation's Director of Federal Affairs, talks about the reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act. On the eve of the White House signing ceremony, Ernest reveals the importance of providing life-sustaining care for people living with HIV and AIDS through Ryan White as health care reform makes its way through Congress.

SFAF.org Podcast #64 - Is the Thai Trial the Holy Grail?

Recent results from a study trial in Thailand provide the first glimpse of hope that we may someday have a vaccine that protects people from HIV infection. In this episode, Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, reviews these new scientific findings with the Foundation's Erik Ireland and explains what the results mean…and what they don't.

SFAF.org Podcast #63 - Project Inform and HIV Treatment as HIV Prevention

The Foundation partners with many organizations to reduce new HIV infections and increase access to care for people living with HIV. In this episode, Dana Van Gorder, Executive Director of Project Inform, discusses HIV treatment as HIV prevention, PrEP and the importance of the National HIV/AIDS Treatment and Information Hotline.

SFAF.org Podcast #60 - California HIV Budget Cuts: Not a Done Deal

While signing the state budget, Governor Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto power to slash an additional $52 million in funding for HIV/AIDS programs. That cut, which eliminates all state support for HIV testing, prevention and care, came on top of the more than $30 million already agreed to by the Legislature in order to balance the budget. In this episode, Courtney Mulhern-Pearson – the Foundation’s Legislative and Policy Associate – gives us an update on the governor's last-minute HIV budget cuts and efforts underway to reverse them.

SFAF.org Podcast #58 - A Federal HIV/AIDS Update with Ernest Hopkins

In this episode Ernest Hopkins, the Foundation's Director of Federal Affairs, talks about the Obama administration's progress on the National AIDS Strategy, the recent White House reception with LGBT leaders on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and the progress being made toward lifting the US ban on HIV-positive foreign travelers.

SFAF Podcast #57 - Advocacy Still Works: State Budget Escapes Knife…so far

HIV/AIDS services in California narrowly escaped draconian cuts in the first budget the governor sent to the State legislature. The San Francisco AIDS Foundation and peer organizations all over the State went to work immediately to fight cuts to prevention, HIV testing, surveillance and treatment for more than 35,000 Californians. In this episode of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation podcast, Peter Taback shares details of the current budget compromise and reminds us that basic advocacy tools are still effective.

SFAF.org Podcast #56 - Governor's Budget Cuts HIV Prevention Funds

In this episode, a discussion about the revised California state budget with Courtney Mulhern-Pearson, the Foundation's Legislative and Policy Associate. Governor Schwarzenegger's current buget revision cuts all state funding for HIV prevention and education. Find out what effects this may have and what can be done to help restore the funding.

SFAF.org Podcast #51 - Dr. Marsha Martin explains why we need universal HIV testing

In this episode, Dr. Marsha Martin, the Director of Get Screened Oakland, discusses why everyone should get an HIV test. Nationally, one in four people who are HIV positive do not know it. One of the strategic goals of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation is to have every San Francisco resident between 13 to 64 know their current HIV status by 2015.

SFAF.org Podcast #49 - Changing CA phlebotomy laws to increase HIV testing

In this episode, Courtney Mulhearn-Pearson, the Foundation's Policy and Legislative Associate, explains about how California's current phlebotomy laws may be hampering efforts to increase HIV testing in the state and what the Foundation is doing to help to change this. In 1999, California required anyone doing finger-prick blood testing to obtain a limited phlebotomy certificate.

SFAF.org Podcast #46 - Mark Cloutier on Obama and a National AIDS Strategy

In this episode, a discussion with Mark Cloutier, the Foundation's Chief Executive Officer. We'll take a look ahead and find out what effects the incoming Obama administration may have on the fight against HIV/AIDS here in the United States in 2009.

SFAF.org Podcast #44 - Dr. Judith Auerbach on the Obama administration and HIV/AIDS

In this episode of our bi-weekly podcast, Dr. Judith Auerbach, the Foundation's Deputy Executive Director for Science and Public Policy, discusses how the Obama administration's HIV/AIDS plan will impact the fight against HIV/AIDS. President-elect Obama campaigned on a promise of implementing a National AIDS Strategy and Dr. Auerbach explains the effect this could have on HIV science and policy.

SFAF.org Podcast #40 - HIV and the election: a legislative update with Ernest Hopkins

In this episode, Ernest Hopkins, the Foundation's Director of Federal Affairs, gives an update on the progress of current HIV-related legislation in Washington. With the elections less than two months away, Ernest gives an outline of the key HIV policy differences between the Republican and Democratic party platforms and an update on the progress of the federal needle exchange bill.

SFAF.org Podcast #38 - Multiple partners and multiple risks: exploring sexual concurrency

In this episode, Professor Gary Dowsett, deputy director at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, talks about concurrency, a term used to describe sexual relationships with multiple partners, in HIV prevention. Research shows that this practice is a factor in many new HIV infections, but effective interventions may include embracing-not rejecting-some of the structures that surround cultures with multiple sexual partnerships including gay men.

SFAF.org IAC Podcast - Congresswoman Barbara Lee discuses a way forward in HIV prevention in the U.S. and around the world

In this episode of the SFAF.org IAC podcast, recorded at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, Erik Ireland sits down with Congresswoman Barbara Lee, serving as an active participant in the Conference for the fifth consecutive year.  Representative Lee gives her candid appraisal of recent legislative successes like the reauthorized President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and calls out where the new bill falls short. She explains why family planning is a vital part of HIV prevention and offers a her solution to years of wasted money on abstinence-only--until-marriage education. The conversation concludes with a few thoughts about the long history of HIV/AIDS advocacy in the Bay Area.

SFAF.org Podcast #33 - Racism & homophobia influence HIV testing and treatment among Black gay men

In this episode you'll hear an excerpt from our May 15th HIVision forum, What's Going On: HIV and Black Gay Men. Panelist Dr. David Malebranche answers a question about HIV testing among Black men with an illuminating portrait of the racism and homophobia Black gay men may encounter when seeking medical attention.

SFAF.org Podcast #32 - Ernest Hopkins on government response to the rising HIV transmission rate among Black MSM

In this episode, Ernest Hopkins, the Foundation's Director of Federal Affairs, discusses the local and federal response to rising HIV transmission rates among Black men who have sex with men. Ernest Hopkins will be a panelist at our May 15th HIVision Forum entitled What's Going On: HIV and Black Gay Men.

SFAF.org Podcast #31 - Dr. David Malebranche on the rising HIV transmission rate among Black gay men

Dr. David Malebranche, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Emory University's School of Medicine and a member of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, discusses HIV and Black gay men. Though it has been demonstrated that HIV risk behaviors in the Black men who have sex with men (MSM) community are often less risky than those of the MSM community in general, the HIV transmission rate in Black gay men continues to rise. Dr. Malebranche will be a panelist at our May 15th HIVision Forum entitled What's Going On: HIV and Black Gay Men.

SFAF.org Podcast #30 - Dr. Judith Auerbach on current HIV microbicide research

Dr. Judith Auerbach, Deputy Executive Director for Science and Public Policy at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, discusses findings revealed at the recent International Microbicides Conference in New Delhi, India. After a few disappointing setbacks, current microbicide research and trials are beginning to yield results that may lead to another effective HIV prevention tool.

SFAF Podcast #26 - California budget cuts and pending HIV legislation: what's at stake?

In this episode, Courtney Mulhern-Pearson, Policy Analyst for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, outlines the possible effects of proposed California state budget cuts and pending state HIV legislation. Faced with a structural deficit of more than 14 billion dollars, Governor Schwarzenegger has presented a state budget with ten percent cuts across the board.

SFAF Podcast #23 - The Year in Review with Mark Cloutier

In this episode, Mark Cloutier, Executive Director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and President of Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation, discusses a year of lessons learned in the fight against HIV and opportunities that lie ahead in 2008 to review and revise approaches to prevention and care, and improve popular understanding of HIV and AIDS.

SFAF Podcast #22 - Dr. Judith Auerbach Challenges the Definition of Evidence-Based HIV Prevention

In this episode Dr. Judith Auerbach, Deputy Executive Director for Science and Public Policy at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation talks defining the meaning of evidence in relation to evidence-based HIV prevention.

SFAF Podcast #19 - The Next Steps Toward HIV Prevention in Prisons and Jails

In this episode you'll hear an excerpt from our October 11th forum, HIVision: Preventing HIV in Prisons and Jails. Panelists answer an audience question about what must be done to stop an explosion of HIV in U.S. prisons and jails. Today, only 6 jurisdictions provide HIV prevention information or materials to inmates.

SFAF Podcast #16 - Ernest Hopkins Gives an HIV/AIDS Legislation Progress Report as Congress Returns

With the House and Senate returning to Capitol Hill this week, Ernest Hopkins, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation's Director of Federal Affairs, gives us an update on the progress of HIV/AIDS legislation currently before Congress, including the Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA) and the HIV in Prisons Act.

SFAF Podcast #14 - HIV Microbicides: A Science and Public Policy Update

In this episode, we'll get the latest information about research on microbicides — chemical compounds now in development — that may help prevent HIV transmission.  Courtney Mulhern-Pearson, a policy analyst in the San Francisco AIDS Foundation's Department of Science and Public Policy explains that although there are no HIV microbicides approved for use in humans, research may soon yield another effective tool for HIV prevention.

SFAF Podcast #12 - Experts discuss serosorting as a possible prevention strategy at SFAF HIVision forum.

In this episode, we've excerpted a ten-minute conversation on serosorting from our recent forum, Exploring What's Positive in Gay Men's Health. This was the first of three HIVision fora the AIDS Foundation will convene this year bringing research and evidence to bear on timely policy and program issues, providing a safe venue to engage community discussion on potentially controversial topics.

For more information, including an audio recording of the recent forum which will be available after July 17th, visit http://www.sfaf.org/hivision/.

SFAF Podcast #11 - Dr. Judith Auerbach and Dr. Steven Tierney on the Upcoming HIVision Forum on Gay Men's Health

Dr. Judith Auerbach, Deputy Executive Director for Science and Public Policy at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Dr. Steven Tierney, the AIDS Foundation's Deputy Executive Director for Programs and Services, discuss our upcoming HIVision forum, Exploring What's Positive in Gay Men's Health. The forum on July 10th will be the first in a series of three HIVision forums the AIDS Foundation will convene this year to gather experts and the community together to explore ideas and options for fighting HIV.

SFAF Podcast #5 - Dr. Judith Auerbach on Combining the Latest Behavioral and Biomedical HIV Prevention Strategies

In this episode, Dr. Judith Auerbach, Deputy Executive Director for Science and Public Policy at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, discusses the latest research on behavioral interventions to prevent HIV and illustrates a new combined biomedical/behavioral approach to decrease infection rates.

SFAF Podcast #4 - Mark Cloutier on the Closing of San Francisco's Office of AIDS

In this episode of the SFAF Podcast, Mark Cloutier, Executive Director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and President of the Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation, talks about the impending closure of the San Francisco municipal Office of AIDS and what challenges and opportunities may lie ahead as HIV/AIDS services become more integrated into the public health system.

SFAF Podcast - Episode One - Ernest Hopkins explains how Ryan White changes will affect SF and the nation.

We're proud to be sharing this link to the first episode of the new San Francisco AIDS Foundation podcast. Now you can get concise biweekly updates on current HIV/AIDS topics from our experts in policy, treatment and prevention. You'll get your questions answered by the people closest to issues surrounding HIV/AIDS in a short program that you can listen to anytime at your computer or on your personal music player.

In our first episode, Ernest Hopkins, Director of Federal Affairs for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, talks about the recent changes to the Ryan White CARE Act and how they may affect AIDS services in San Francisco and nationwide. Mr. Hopkins is responsible for implementing the agency's federal policy advocacy agenda.  He is a well known HIV/AIDS advocate and was instrumental in the passage of the current Ryan White CARE Act.