World leaders in HIV research

UNSW's HIV researchers continue to cement their reputation as world leaders in their field.

Professor Andrew Carr, who is based at St Vincent's Hospital, is the only Australian and one of only three people outside of the US to be listed in the top 10 HIV/AIDS researchers in the world.

He was named by Science as the author with the seventh highest impact in the field over the past decade. Authors who had the most citations per paper, with a minimum of 100 publications, were listed.

He is best known for his work on the complications of antiretroviral therapy. He was the first to describe a very common and clinically important side effect of therapy: HIV lipodystrophy, which changes the way body fat is distributed, and which causes metabolic changes that increase the risk of heart disease.

More recently, Professor Carr's work has focused on the links between HIV, antiretroviral therapy and heart disease.

For more on Professor Carr's work, go to the Faculty of Medicine website

Social research in HIV is another of UNSW's core strengths.

Associate Professor Heather Worth, from the National Centre in HIV Social Research (NCHSR) is heading a team which has won over $2 million to provide the evidence to help combat HIV in the Asia-Pacific region.

The focus of the work will be PNG, Indonesia and the Pacific.

AusAID has given $1.2 million to the team to train local researchers in HIV-specific research methods. Another $830,000 is to fund research into social research in those countries.

In the Pacific, there is a very low prevalence of HIV, but as there are high rates of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), Professor Worth believes it may be the "pre-cursor of an epidemic, because people are clearly having sex and not using condoms".

Some of the money will also be spent on collaborating to build a Pacific Centre for HIV and STI Research in Fiji. The Centre will be a partnership between NCHSR, the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University , the University of the South Pacific and the Fiji School of Medicine.

For more on Professor Worth's work, go to The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences website

Media Contact: Susi Hamilton | 0422 934 024 | susi.hamilton@unsw.edu.au