GINA WINGOOD

Ralph DiClemente first encountered AIDS when a close friend died of the disease long before health experts knew how to treat or prevent it. Today, DiClemente, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Behavioral Sciences, and Gina Wingood, the Agnes Moore Faculty in HIV Research, have developed model programs to reduce the risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among teens and young adults. One of their most successful efforts is SISTA (Sisters Informing Sisters about Topics on AIDS), used across the country to encourage young African American women to act responsibly when it comes to sex. The researchers have designed other interventions to guide African American teens and their parents, women in rural South Africa, sex workers in Armenia, adolescents in the Caribbean, and Latina women in Miami.

Currently, DiClemente is reaching out to girls in juvenile detention and women who use alcohol to reduce their risk of HIV and other STDs. Wingood is partnering with large African American churches around Atlanta to reduce women’s risk of HIV across the life span and promote HIV testing. “Churches are highly respected within the African American community,” says Wingood. “They are an important venue to inform women about HIV protection and safe sex.”

AIDS

By The Numbers

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