January 24, 2011

John Bartlett and Chris Beyrer named to new AIDS board

John Bartlett, a professor in the School of Medicine, and Chris Beyrer, a professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, have been appointed to the newly established Scientific Advisory Board for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR. The board will advise Ambassador Eric Goosby, U.S. global AIDS coordinator for the State Department, on developments in HIV/AIDS research in an effort to maximize PEPFAR’s scientific contributions. The 48-member board held its first meetings on Jan. 6 and 7.

Bartlett, the Stanhope Baynes Jones Professor of Medicine, was for 25 years director of the Division of Infectious Diseases and has led the School of Medicine’s worldwide efforts to understand, prevent and treat AIDS. He was the first to direct clinical trials in Baltimore of new treatments that prevent HIV from replicating, and he pioneered the development of dedicated inpatient and outpatient medical care for HIV-infected patients. Bartlett co-chaired the national committee that drafted the first and all subsequent treatment guidelines for HIV-infected patients.

Beyrer has extensive experience in conducting international collaborative research and training programs in HIV/AIDS and other infectious disease epidemiology, HIV and STI prevention research, HIV vaccine preparedness and in health and human rights. He also directs the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights and the Johns Hopkins Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program.