The UNMC Annual HIV Update for Providers and Educators returned on June 9, 2022. The conference was not hosted in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the UNMC HIV team joined forces with the DHHS HIV PrEP Institute team to provide a day-long event focused on HIV TREATMENT and PREVENTION.
For the first time, the conference was hosted as a hybrid event with approximately 60 attendees in person, and over 100 attendees registered in the interactive virtual forum.
The morning was focused on What’s New in HIV Care with a fantastic summary of up to date treatment recommendations and review of clinical trials, with honored presenter Dr. Susan Swindells. A “hot topics” session covered STI Treatment Guidelines, Weight Gain on ART, and the intersection of COVID-19, HIV, and health disparities. The morning was rounded out with panel discussions related to team based approach to address psychosocial barriers to care, as well as long-acting ART.
In the afternoon, we switched gears to focus on HIV prevention, particularly PrEP. The presenters highlighted PrEP in special populations including adolescents and Native Americans. We heard from a team that has initiated a new PrEP project to make this tool accessible to people across Nebraska, as well as a panel of patients familiar with PrEP. Finally, we heard about the importance of “Rebranding PrEP” to increase interest and uptake across populations.
We would like to acknowledge the teams that made this hybrid conference and continuing education possible: UNMC/Nebraska Medicine, Nebraska AIDS Project, Omaha Childrens’ Hospital, Ponca Tribe Heath Services, UNO, DHHS, Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center Kansas/Nebraska, Washington University, KC Care Clinic, University of Cincinnati, St. Louis PTC, Entertainment LIVEstyle, and all of our speakers, moderators, panelists, organizers, vendors, and attendees.
If you would like to learn more about the 2022 HIV Update and PreP Institute Conference, or want to get involved in future conferences, please contact nregan@nebraskamed.com.
Content and photos for this post were kindly provided by Nichole Regan, APRN-NP