 |
 |
|
|
|
|||
|
|||
 |
|||
APARC’s Stith on monthlong Africa visit
Charles Stith, the director of the African Presidential Archives and Research Center (APARC), currently is on a monthlong trip to Africa, where he is promoting his center’s efforts to strengthen U.S.-Africa relations. Among the former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania’s stops are Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, and Tanzania, to meet with current and former heads of state, government leaders, and heads of private and nongovernmental organizations. Discussion topics include the effects on East Africa of the recent tsunami, resolution of the conflict in Sudan, human-rights violation trials in Rwanda, U.S. interest in Nigeria’s oil market, President Bush’s likely initiatives for Africa, and planned democratic elections in Tanzania, Mozambique, Namibia, and Botswana. At the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa on February 21, Stith will release officially APARC’s third annual African Leaders State of Africa Report, which shares the political perspectives of African leaders pushing for democratic governance and free market reform. “With the Bush administration launching its second term and presumably taking a fresh look at its complex array of global relationships,” says Stith, “this is a timely opportunity to take the pulse of African aspirations.”
SDM receives $427,000 to care for HIV-positive patients
The School of Dental Medicine was awarded $427,600 last month to provide oral health care to HIV-positive patients. The grant, provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Ryan White CARE Act, reimburses dental schools that provide care to uninsured HIV-positive patients. Elyse Holsberg, SDM’s director of patient services, says that most of the HIV-infected patients treated at the school are from a low-income population and cannot pay for care. The grant also helps to educate dental professionals about treating people with HIV. The school was the top recipient of 63 institutions receiving the HIV dental reimbursement grant this year.
BMC organizes HIV awareness events
Boston Medical Center (BMC) observed National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness and Information Day on February 7 by organizing several local educational programs. Free HIV testing was offered at BMC, Mattapan Community Health Center, Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center, and Upham’s Corner Health Center, and BMC health-care workers and counselors provided HIV referral services and education to African-Americans and others. “African-Americans have been disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS since the epidemic’s beginning,” says Paul Skolnik, a MED professor of medicine and director of the Center for HIV/AIDS Care and Research. “If we increase the dialogue and get everyone involved, we will be able to galvanize our communities to take action and stop the spread of AIDS.”
Vaina and White elected to AIMBE
Lucia Vaina and John White, both ENG biomedical engineering professors, recently were elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). AIMBE is the largest professional organization for biomedical engineering; its College of Fellows is a distinguished group of roughly 600 individuals representing the top 2 percent of biomedical engineers in the world. Vaina, who studies computational visual neuroscience, and White, whose research involves the electrophysiological and pharmacological properties of ion channels, will be inducted into the College of Fellows at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., on February 17. The department of biomedical engineering already boasts 11 AIMBE Fellows among its faculty: Irving Bigio, Steve Colburn, Jim Collins, Charles DeLisi, Carlo DeLuca, Micah Dembo, Evan Evans, Ken Lutchen, David Mountain, Temple Smith, and Herbert Voigt.
11
Februrary 2005
Boston University
Office of University Relations