PATRICK SULLIVAN

Patrick Sullivan was a teenager when AIDS became a household word associated with gaunt images of people in the late stages of disease.

Younger generations now see AIDS differently. “We think of it as a disease that’s chronic and not curable but manageable,” says Sullivan, a Rollins epidemiologist specializing in HIV prevention and health disparities.

In an Atlanta study, Sullivan is examining the difference in HIV prevalence among black and white men who have sex with men (MSM). While black MSM tend to have fewer casual sex partners, they have two to three times the HIV rate of white MSM. Sullivan is looking at sexual partner characteristics, social networks, stigma, and poverty to understand how they may drive disparities.

Eli Rosenberg, a doctoral student, has begun a related study to learn more about the social networks of black and white MSM. Kristin Wall, a PhD student who has studied HIV in Africa, recently published a paper with Sullivan on HIV testing provided to MSM by their health providers. Wall found that MSM who disclosed their sexual partners were more likely to be offered HIV testing by their doctor. The next step in her research is intervening with health care providers so they routinely ask for sexual histories and offer HIV screening. The factors that drive HIV acquisition are complex, requiring new approaches to prevention and young inquiring minds to generate them. “Managing epidemics is complicated, even with great tools,” says Sullivan. “We will be talking about this 30 years from now.”