Reaching Out Globally with AIDS Training

	Photo of a woman and her child taken by UW WWAMI faculty member Dr. Samuel Palpant while serving in East Africa as a physician.

For years, Dr. James Mullins has doggedly tracked the development of HIV’s extraordinary genetic diversity across the world. Along the way, he’s gone to great lengths to spread his expertise. The training he has provided has swelled the ranks of an international coalition of scientists and health workers who are gathering epidemiological data on HIV/AIDS.

Offering technical assistance to poorer countries heavily affected by the AIDS epidemic is both humanitarian and scientifically necessary. Effective therapies or vaccines cannot be found without knowledge of how the virus is spreading and mutating. The effort has to be global.

Since 1988, Mullins, professor of microbiology and of medicine, has traveled to some 80 countries to give on-site training in the form of weeklong courses to scientists in Africa, South America, Asia, and Europe. Back at the University of Washington, he has regularly given training to visiting scientists from developing countries and from the former Soviet Union.

Mullins teaches researchers how to track whichever among some dozen major genetic subtypes of HIV are present in their nations’ populations and to map the virus’ progress.

Among the global programs:

Mullins’ efforts complement a variety of UW programs. Total annual funding for AIDS-related research and training at the UW is about $105 million, of which approximately $34 million funds technical assistance overseas.