As December, and our HIV awareness posts come to an end, we want to celebrate one of Nebraska Medicine’s partners that works closely with our Specialty Care Center to provide HIV care, and creates inclusive and safe spaces for diverse communities across Nebraska. The Nebraska AIDS Project (NAP) is a non-profit organization established in 1984 in response to the early AIDS crisis when less was… Continue Reading
Research has long been an important part of the mission of the HIV Team at UNMC’s Specialty Care Center For many years, clinic patients clinic have had the opportunity to take part in a variety of projects including interventional treatment for HIV, the study of comorbid conditions and opportunistic infections, and trials targeted towards HIV prevention. Currently, our team has patients enrolled in eleven active… Continue Reading
Preparing for my 4-week advanced pharmacy practice experience at the Nebraska Medicine Specialty Care Clinic was slightly nerve-wracking if I am honest. In the days leading up to my start, trepidation creeped in as I considered the unknown of the experience. “What if I say something wrong?” “Will it sound false if I am trying to relate?” “I want to ensure they receive the best… Continue Reading
Josh Havens, PharmD, BCPS, Kim Scarsi, PharmD, BCPS, Anthony Podany, PharmD, and Valentina Orduna make up the pharmacy team at the Specialty Care Clinic (SCC). Pharmacy staff are fully integrated within the HIV care team at SCC. We help manage SCC patients for a variety of issues including antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation or switching, management of ART related drug-drug interactions, medication adherence, medication access, Hepatitis… Continue Reading
I don’t know how to sum up the last 24 years into just a few paragraphs, but I will try. Words can be quite powerful. The most unforgettable were the ones I read when my adult life was just beginning. At the age of 17, I received a certified letter stating that I had a “potentially serious condition of a personal nature”. I had just finished… Continue Reading
Have you heard about the U=U campaign related to HIV transmission? U=U is a simple but important campaign based on a solid foundation of scientific evidence. In recent months, the global medical and scientific HIV community has come together to support the statement, “undetectable equals untransmittable”. This means that persons living with HIV, who take their medication and maintain undetectable HIV viral load, are NOT… Continue Reading
Rebecca Osborn, (Fourth Year UNMC Medical Student) I have always had a strong desire to work with under-served communities, and was thus drawn to the unique social and medical needs of patients living with HIV. Through my four-year track, I was able to gain early clinical experience, as well as participate in research and work closely with patients and their providers. During my rotations, I witnessed… Continue Reading
Ryan White (1971-1990) became the national poster child for HIV/AIDS after he was expelled from middle school because of his HIV infection. He was diagnosed with AIDS after receiving a contaminated blood transfusion at the age of 13. His legal battles with the school system made him a national celebrity and spokesman for AIDS research and education. Ryan White helped break the stigma that HIV/AIDS was… Continue Reading
The University of Nebraska Medical Center Specialty Care Clinic (SCC) provides comprehensive care of persons living with HIV, at all stages of the disease, as well as specialty Transgender clinics. The team is composed of Physicians, Pharmacists & Pharmacy Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, Social Workers & Case Managers, Medical Assistants, Front Desk Assistants, Patient Resource Specialists, Administrative Staff, and an in-house Laboratory technician. We are… Continue Reading
World AIDS Day represents an opportunity for reflection – how far we’ve come since the beginning of the epidemic with unprecedented advances in treatment, and also reflection about the early days of fear and confusion. I have a vivid memory of the first patient I took care of with HIV infection. It was 1986 and I was living in Columbus Ohio and working in a… Continue Reading
