MONTREAL/October 6, 2004—
Dr. Irving Salit is Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and a specialist in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Salit is the Director of the Immunodeficiency (HIV) Clinic at the Toronto General Hospital. His research interests include the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and screening tests for HPV-associated Anal Cancer.
Since 1998, Dr. Salit has also been a leader of the CIDA-funded Canada AIDS Russia Project. This is a multidisciplinary project based in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Currently, major projects continue in four different regions of Russia, including Siberia. Dr. Salit, who has been to Russia fifteen times since the project's inception, will summarize the objectives and the preliminary achievements of the ongoing project; his lecture will be coloured by his firsthand personal experience of the crisis. Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the former Soviet Union, are currently experiencing the fastest growth rate of new HIV infections in the world (much of this increase is attributed to the sharing of needles between intravenous drug users). A key objective of the project is to train 50 Russian specialists in five areas: epidemiology and testing, clinical care, counseling and psycho-social care, prevention and education, and community development. Another objective is to help create a Web-based HIV information and communications system for Russians working on HIV/AIDS.
- 30 -
