Pre-meetings

The 2023 HIV Cure & Immunotherapy Forum, organized by the IAS Towards an HIV Cure initiative, will be held at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre in Brisbane, Australia, on 22 July 2023 alongside IAS 2023, the 12th IAS Conference on HIV Science. The content of the Forum will be accessible online after the meeting.  

Following the success of the 2019 HIV & HBV Forum and the 2021 HIV Cure and Gene Therapy Forum, the 2023 Forum will focus on the intersection between immunotherapy and HIV cure research, building on recent advances in both fields. Its main goals are to establish a unified definition for post-intervention control, understand the biological impact of immunotherapies for cure, understand the underlying mechanisms, and learn from advances in immunotherapies in cancer therapeutics and vaccine development. 

The Forum will include invited speakers, an oral abstract discussion and a panel discussion incorporating perspectives from both fields and highlighting current research directions.  

Forum objectives

• Accelerate research on immunotherapy curative strategies.

• Create an environment to foster interdisciplinary collaborations and merge the HIV cure and immunotherapy disciplines.

• Provide an opportunity for the next generation of investigators to launch their careers through interaction and discussion with peers.

• Promote engagement of researchers, advocates, social and behavioural scientists, ethicists, philanthropic organizations and the private sector and seek to promote research in low- and middle-income settings.

• Promote increased investments in cure research.

• Provide a platform for information sharing, debate and networking among peers.

Programme Committee

Thumbi Ndung'u, Beatriz Mothe Pujadas and Anthony Kelleher will co-chair the meeting. The Forum Programme Committee will be made up of experts from both fields and include Sharon Lewin and Steve Deeks, the inaugural Co-Chairs of the IAS Towards an HIV Cure forums. 

We will provide more information about the scientific programme soon.

Registration

To encourage the broadest participation in the forum, registration will be free. However, the meeting will be in person only and limited to 300 attendees. Stay tuned. Registration opens soon!

Please note that registration for the 2023 HIV Cure & Immunotherapy Forum does not grant you access to IAS 2023.

With support from:

The forum will explore global health equity, human rights and policy frameworks facing people living with HIV regarding migration and mobility.

The time to ACT on global HIV migration and health equity is NOW.

Did you know there were an estimated 1 billion migrants worldwide in 2020, 281 million of whom were international migrants (3.6% of the world population)?

Did you know that 46 countries impose mandatory HIV testing or some form of HIV-related restrictions that prevent people living with HIV from legally entering, transiting through, studying, working in or residing in the country?

Did you know that Australia is one of the few high-income, low HIV-prevalence countries that still impose HIV-related migration restrictions?

This event is about establishing the global priorities to challenge discriminatory and outdated laws, policies and practices and champion health equity for all. This applies whether you mobilize key populations at the grassroots level, develop government health and human rights policies, study HIV epidemiological trends, implement HIV programmes and services, make donor investments in civil society or have the lived experience of HIV migration.

This high-level workshop is open to all. Speakers will come from global health organizations and advocacy groups from around the world and include people with lived experience of HIV migration and mobility.

This is a free event. However, space is limited and pre-registration is essential.

Proudly supported by:

IAS – the International AIDS Society – and its partners are organizing a one-day pre-meeting, titled “Putting people first in the prevention, treatment and care of HPV-related cancers for people living with HIV”, in conjunction with IAS 2023, the 12th IAS Conference on HIV Science.  The event will be held at the Pullman & Mercure King George Square Hotel, Corner of Ann & Roma Street, Brisbane, 4000, Australia, on 22 July 2023. The content will be accessible online after the pre-meeting.   

This pre-meeting will be of interest to HIV basic scientists, clinicians, researchers, public health practitioners, implementers, community advocates and those working towards preventing and managing HPV-related cancers.  

People with HIV experience a substantially increased incidence of cancers associated with human papillomavirus (HPV), including cervical cancer, anal cancer, other anogenital cancers and oro-pharyngeal cancer. Globally, cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women living with HIV, and people living with HIV are more likely to develop cervical cancer at a younger age. Scale up of HPV vaccination, screening and treatment are required to meet the ambitious targets of the World Health Organization to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem by 2030. People living with HIV should be prioritized in this scale up. 

Anal cancer is a common cancer in people living with HIV and is among the most common of all cancers in men having sex with men living with HIV. Like cervical cancer, future anal cancer cases will eventually be prevented by HPV vaccination of children. In addition, screening in people living with HIV, analogous to the cervical model, has been proposed. In 2022, a large, randomized trial reported for the first time that treatment of screen-detected pre-cancer reduced the incidence of anal cancer. Clinical societies will need to adjust to these new results and the reality that screening and treatment to prevent anal cancer is needed in people living with HIV.  

The objective of the meeting is to bring together a diverse group of scientific, technical and community representatives to discuss current opportunities and challenges for increased prevention and screening for HPV, as well as diagnosis and treatment of intraepithelial neoplasia to prevent cervical cancer and anal cancer in people living with HIV and other populations.  

Programme and Organizing Committee 

• Adeeba Kamarulzaman, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia
• Andrew Grulich, Kirby Institute, University of NSW, Australia
• Joel Palefsky, University of California San Francisco, United States
• Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Programme overview

09:00 – 10:00	Session 1 – Welcome and introduction: The scale of the challenges
10:10 – 10:30	Break
10:30 – 12:00	Session 2 – State-of-the-art guidance for vaccination, screen and treat
12:00 – 13:00	Lunch provided on site
13:00 – 14:30	Session 3 – Good-practice models for HPV cancer elimination
14:30 – 15:00	Break
15:00 – 16:00	Session 4 – Discussion: Current and future research gaps related to HPV cancer elimination
16:00 – 16:15	Break
16:15 – 17:00	Session 5 – Discussion: Call to action
17:00 – 18:00	Networking reception

Registration

To encourage the broadest participation in the pre-meeting, registration will be free. However, the meeting will be in person only and limited to 250 attendees. Stay tuned. Registration opens soon! 

Please note that registration for the IAS 2023 pre-meeting: Person-centred HIV and HPV care does not grant you access to IAS 2023.

Proudly supported by gold sponsor:

With support from: