Avac Event

Combo bNAbs for HIV Prevention – Latest Developments

Please join AVAC for a global webinar: Combo bNAbs for HIV Prevention – Latest Developments.

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Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) remain at the center of research toward an HIV vaccine and immune-based HIV prevention. In particular, researchers are advancing the concept of “combo AMP” – passive delivery of a combination of bNAbs targeting multiple sites on the viral envelope – achieving broader and stronger protection than with a single bNAb, as in the original AMP trial.  

At AIDS 2026, the CAPRISA team from Durban, South Africa announced results from the CAP 012c Phase 2 trial examining a combination of two bNAbs, which unfortunately showed no statistically significant difference in HIV incidence rates between the combo bNAb and placebo arms.  

The HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) is currently designing a three bNAb combination study. Additional bNAb research is tracked as part of AVAC’s People’s Research Agenda. 

Please join us to hear the latest updates on the bNAb pipeline and to discuss what the future holds. 

Avac Event

Plain Language as Scientific Accountability: How to Communicate Science Beyond Academic Audiences

This joint UW/Fred Hutch—Penn CFAR session brings the two CFARs together in conversation around how we communicate science beyond academic audiences. This session will present examples of technical language from HIV cure, prevention, and treatment research and ask what happens when the people most affected by the science cannot easily understand what researchers are saying. Then participants will roll up their sleeves and work together to make that language clearer without losing the science.

Avac Event

Evolving Oral PrEP Guidance for Cis Women: What do we know, and what will it take?

Scientific consensus is evolving, but PrEP clinical equity remains unachieved. Recent data has challenged the “conventional wisdom” surrounding vaginal PrEP tissue concentrations, proving oral PrEP (TDF/FTC, TAF/FTC) is significantly more forgiving than historic messaging for cis women suggested. This has implications for what we understand as “time to protection” as well as “on-demand” PrEP, and may impact trans and non-binary people as well.

What will it take to update the discordant guidelines for women? Can better, more accurate alignment advance equity for cis women, trans folks and non-binary people?

Speakers:

  • Dr. Heather-Marie Anne Schmidt, UNAIDS
  • Simon Collins, HIV i-Base
  • Dr. Jenell Stewart, University of Minnesota
  • Dr. Raphael Landovitz, University of California Los Angeles

Avac Event

IUSTI Prague 2026 Congress

The 27th IUSTI World Congress will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, in 14–17 October 2026. Organized by the International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections, the world congress will provide an opportunity to meet, discuss and learn about the latest research and innovation in sexual and reproductive health. The program will incorporate a range of world leading speakers and presentations, providing an opportunity to expand your professional knowledge through local and international insight.

Avac Event

2026 STI Prevention Conference

The 2026 STI Prevention Conference will be held August 31 – September 2, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. The 2026 STI Prevention Conference comes at a moment when the STI field is being asked to do a lot at once: sustain progress, respond to new challenges, and chart a path forward in an increasingly complex environment. Convened under the theme, Forward Together: Uniting Science, Community, and Care for STI Prevention, the conference reflects both the urgency of the moment and the optimism that meaningful progress is still within reach, especially if we act collectively. 

Avac Event

2026 US Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA)

The annual US Conference on HIV/AIDS will take place in Anaheim, California, from September 17-20, 2026. The conference is the nation’s largest convener of community, workforce and frontline service providers, government, policymakers, and healthcare industry across the HIV movement. 

Avac Event

Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2027)

The annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) will take place March 21–24, 2027, in San Diego, California. Check back closer to the conference for more info on AVAC at the conference.

The Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) was established in 1993 to provide a forum for basic scientists and clinical investigators to present, discuss, and critique their investigations into the epidemiology and biology of human retroviruses and associated diseases. The synergy of basic science and clinical investigation has been a major contributor to the success of the meeting. CROI has facilitated the presentation of important discoveries in the field, thereby accelerating progress in HIV and AIDS research. CROI highlights the latest research in HIV, hepatitis viruses, SARS-CoV-2 (including long COVID), mpox, and their related conditions.

Avac Event

The Persistence Paradigm: Ensuring the Longevity of Health Equity Research

In these exceptional times, how is health equity research faring? What can we collaboratively do to sustain and continue this important work which is so critical to supporting healthy communities and an HIV response? How can academia and community better synergize and mobilize? How do we know what to do next?

There is no one answer, and instead different approaches are necessary. On August 13, The Choice Agenda and global leaders discussed options, strategies, tactics, contexts and perspectives we need to consider to continue progress toward health equity.

Speakers/panelists:

  • Dr. Annesa Flentje, Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University and The PRIDE Study, Stanford University
  • Dr. Brian Mustanski, Northwestern University Impact Institute
  • Grace Kumwenda, AVAC
  • Luciana Kamel, Community Advocate and PhD Candidate in Public Health, Instituto Medicina Social (IMS/UERJ), Brazil
  • Dr. Tabea Hässler, University of Zurich

Recording / Transcript / Slides / Resources

Avac Event

Community First: Practical Strategies for Inclusive Implementation Science

On Wednesday, July 15, The Choice Agenda and Hunter College’s Dr. Sarit Golub held a participatory discussion on implementation science – including opportunities, pitfalls and ways in which community leadership – beyond perfunctory “engagement” – is essential to success. What are the different types of implementation science, and how do we move forward with community and front-line implementers at the helm?

Speaker
Dr. Sarit Golub, Hunter College
BLUPrint

Recording / Slides / Transcript

Avac Event

Future-Proofing the AIDS Response

Harnessing the Power of Innovation and Communities

The UN high-level side-event “Future-proofing the AIDS Response: Harnessing the power of innovation and communities,” will be held on the margins of the UN High Level Meeting on HIV. The event will be organized by UNDP, UNFPA, WHO, UNODC, UNICEF, UN Women, UNHCR — in collaboration with civil society partners: GNP+, AVAC, women’s organizations, and key population networks.

AVAC’s Executive Director Mitchell Warren and AVAC Board member and ITPC Executive Director Solange Baptiste will be speaking at the event, and are joined by AVAC Board member Jeff O’Malley of UNDP who are organizing the event.

Find out more about side events and panels here: https://www.unaids.org/en/2026-high-level-meeting-aids.