Description:

Sponsored by the MSTP Student Council, Diverse Perspectives of Physician Scientists is a series of conversations between researchers and current trainees, which address the unique experiences of those who identify as an underrepresented minority and/or serve populations where health disparities exist. We strive to offer new perspectives for students of all backgrounds as we move forward in our training and careers.

This year, we are pleased to invite Dr. David Ostrow MD/PHD. Event will include remarks from Dr. Ostrow starting at 4:00pm with a reception to follow in the Lurie Atrium. Please RSVP for the event at www.tinyurl.com/DPPS2015

About David Ostrow, MD, PhD
Our Spring 2015 keynote speaker is Dr. David Ostrow, MD/PhD, who completed his undergraduate and MSTP training at the University of Chicago. Dr. Ostrow has dedicated most of his career to delineating the causes of medically underserved populations, more specifically the Chicago LGBT community and African Americans at highest risk for Hepatitis and HIV infection. As a co-founder of the first community-based gay health clinic, now the Howard Brown Health Center of Chicago, Dr. Ostrow was one of the first researchers to identify Hepatitis B as a sexually transmitted infection (STI) while still an MSTP trainee. This led to his participation in the late 70s in the CDC multisite studies of the epidemiology of Hep B as an STD and the HepB vaccine efficacy studies.

Ostrow was integral to Chicago’s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, founding the Chicago Department of Health's AIDS Task Force in 1982. In 1983, Dr. Ostrow proposed a study of a new deadly STD based on the fact that blood samples and behavioral data on thousands of gay/bisexual men who had participated in the HepC studies were available from the 5-7 years prior to the emergence of AIDS and while the causative agent was spreading U observed among MSM. He became the PI of the Chicago cohort of the Multi-Center AIDS Cohort Study (MACS), based at the Howard Brown Clinic and Northwestern University. Once the causative agent was identified as a retrovirus that attacked key immune system lymphocytes, Dr Ostrow concentrated his research on the determinants of risk, sexual and drug use behaviors and effective risk-reduction strategies for the prevention of HIV transmission.

Currently, Dr. Ostrow is a senior investigator for the Cannabinoid Therapies Translational Research Project, which seeks to develop cannabinoid-based therapeutic regimens for the prevention and treatment of HIV infection. Dr. Ostrow has published many peer-reviewed articles and books which reflect his interesting career combining community-based public health research, practice and drug policy reform.