Dr. Annette Sohn Named New TREAT Asia Director

July 2008—Annette Sohn, M.D., has been appointed amfAR’s new vice president for global initiatives and director of TREAT Asia. Dr. Sohn, a highly regarded pediatrician and researcher with extensive experience treating HIV/AIDS among children in Southeast Asia, will take up her appointment on 1 September and will be based in TREAT Asia’s Bangkok office.

“I am delighted that Annette Sohn will join amfAR in a leadership capacity,” said amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost. “Dr. Sohn brings a unique combination of practical medical experience, cultural understanding, groundbreaking research, and a dedication to amfAR’s global efforts to defeat the HIV/AIDS epidemic.”

An assistant professor in the division of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Dr. Sohn is a member of the TREAT Asia steering committee, pediatric network, and the Pediatric HIV Observational Database working group. She is also a technical advisor to PEPFAR-Viet Nam, assisting in-country programs on coordination, protocols, and capacity building for scaling up pediatric antiretroviral treatment programs, and is a former Viet Nam country representative for the UCSF Institute for Global Health.

Dr. Sohn is currently based in Ho Chi Minh City, where she has directed a pediatric HIV research program in collaboration with Children’s Hospital No. 1 and the Ho Chi Minh City AIDS Committee. Her projects there have included studies of diagnostic testing and monitoring in HIV-exposed infants, stigma and discrimination in the context of prevention of mother-to-child transmission, and contraception and reproductive health outcomes of HIV-positive women.

“I welcome the opportunity to work full-time on amfAR’s global initiatives,”Dr. Sohn said. “Our challenge is to find ways to build on TREAT Asia’s accomplishments in the development of research and community initiatives.”

“I also would like us to explore how we can increase linkages between our networks and other regional and global partners,” she continued. “How can the community play a more active role in the research we now conduct? How can our data be used to promote policy goals, such as expansion of second-line antiretroviral therapy? Under Kevin Frost’s leadership, TREAT Asia became a dynamic and well-respected organization. I hope to continue along that path.”