St Stephen’s AIDS Trust was founded in 1991 to support clinical research in HIV / AIDS, to improve the quality of life for people living with HIV / AIDS and to share knowledge and experience through education and training.
St Stephen's AIDS Trust sponsors a wide variety of important research and clinical trials, performed in its dedicated HIV Research Unit at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, improving the care of HIV positive patients and contributing to many major, multicentre studies that continue to revolutionise the treatment of HIV infection.
It has a large educational remit, running short courses in HIV and STIs at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for healthcare professionals in the UK . In addition, the charity provides HIV workshops and HIV training programmes in resource poor countries.
NEW DATES FOR AUTUMN COURSES IN HIV and STIs ! Places available
Rio de Janeiro/Chelsea and Westminster Hospital 2009
Dr Paul Randell, 17-21 March 2008
Fiocruz is situated in the northern part of Rio de Janeiro and was initially inaugurated in May 1900 (under the name of Federal Serotherapy Institute) with the mandate to tackle the great public health burdens facing Brazil. From these beginnings it has expanded significantly and is responsible for a wide range of activities including hospital and ambulatory care, vaccine and drug production and development, research in the field of infectious diseases as well as having an important role in education and training.
I was fortunate enough to spend a week at Fiocruz and found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile experience. I was struck by the friendliness and enthusiasm of the staff that I met and I am extremely grateful for the knowledge and time that they shared with me. I spent most of the time in the HIV clinical trials unit and was fascinated to see not only the differences but the similarities, in challenges faced, between Fiocruz and St Stephen’s Research. In addition I was able to spend time in the inpatient infectious disease hospital as well as a number of specialist clinics managing tropical diseases including Chaga’s disease, Spirotrichosis, HTLV and Leishmaniasis.
I found the exchange to be an invaluable experience not only in developing my clinical and research knowledge but I was also able to gain a greater understanding of healthcare in Brazil. I look forward to the possibility of collaborating with the team from Fiocruz in the future.
Exchange HIV Physician from Fiocruz, Rio De Janeiro expected at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in Autumn 2009