Biostatisticians recognized for research in HIV medicine

Biostatistics and informatics faculty at the Colorado School of Public Health Samantha MaWhinney, Sc.D., and Amanda Allshouse, M.S., are among the authors recognized by the HIV Medicine Association for publishing one of the year’s most critical articles in HIV medicine. Their article “Sex, race and geographic region influence clinical outcomes following primary HIV-1 infection,” originally published in the Journal of Infectious Disease, appears in HIV Medicine Association’s 2011 Compendium of Clinical Issues in HIV Medicine.

MaWhinney and Allshouse joined lead author Amie Meditz, M.D, and senior author Elizabeth Connick, M.D., both from the Division of Infectious Disease in the School of Medicine, and colleagues to better understand whether sex and race influence clinical outcomes following primary human immodeficiney virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. The study used an existing database from the Acute and Early Infection Research Program (AIEDRP), which recruited subjects with acute and early HIV infection. AIEDRP studies were funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. According to the authors, women and minorities have been underrepresented in many studies of HIV and a better understanding of the influence of sex and race could potentially improve their diagnosis and care.