Five Questions With: Dr. Charles Carpenter

Dr. Charles Carpenter, professor of medicine at Brown University and attending physician at The Miriam Hospital, has been involved in the care of people living with HIV since 1982. He served as the site director of the CDC-supported HIV Epidemiology Research Study from 1992 to 1999, and is now principal investigator of the CDC-supported Sun Study of the Natural History of HIV/AIDS in the era of effective anti-retroviral therapy. He also leads th,e Lifespan-Tufts-Brown Center for AIDS Research which on Nov. 6 is hosting the nation’s 19 centers for AIDS research at a National Science Symposium on the Brown campus.

PBN: The Lifespan-Tufts-Brown Center for AIDS Research is a team effort. Is there a dramatic instance in which teamwork produced a breakthrough in your research?

CARPENTER: One great achievement that has significantly reduced HIV mother-to-child transmission in Rhode Island was the change in legislation in the testing of pregnant women. We used to have “opt in” testing, for which you needed special written consent to test pregnant women for HIV. Testing rates were about 58 percent. When it changed to “opt out” testing and HIV testing became part of the routine tests for pregnant women, unless the patient refused the test, testing rates increased to 99 percent. This way, HIV-infected pregnant women could be treated and reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. This work was spearheaded by Drs. Brian Alverson and Nicole Alexander.

PBN: How far along is your team and all of scientific research in terms of defeating HIV/AIDS? What have been the biggest advances of the last 10 years?

- Advertisement -

CARPENTER: Perhaps the greatest advance in the AIDS field in the last decade has been the availability of a single pill, taken once daily, with less side effects than aspirin, which can be used for treatment of persons newly diagnosed with HIV infection.

PBN: There is now talk of a cure for HIV – is it possible to say that one is definitely coming and it’s only a question of when?

CARPENTER: Curative therapy for HIV infection is now a realistic possibility. Many knowledgeable scientists predict that this will be possible within the next decade, but there is no way to determine exactly when.

PBN: What has happened in terms of HIV treatment costs in the last couple of decades?

CARPENTER: The availability of inexpensive generic single-pill regimens utilized by the [World Health Organization], and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has made it possible for effective treatment of HIV-infected individuals worldwide.

PBN: Where is HIV infection still accelerating, if anywhere, and what needs to be done to address that?

CARPENTER: HIV transmission continues to occur, almost unabated, in specific subpopulations worldwide, ranging from young men who have sex with men in the United States to adolescent women in South Africa. Worldwide efforts to decrease HIV transmission in such specific populations are underway.

No posts to display