By Timothy Kudo Daily Bruin Staff
Having sex in Los Angeles can be risky business, according to Professor Oscar Grusky, since there are more people with HIV and AIDS in the county than in 47 different states.
With an estimated 15,000 people living with the disease in the area, innovative ideas are necessary to eliminate the epidemic, and that's why today's graduate students are paving the way for the cure of tomorrow with their research - a portion of which was presented Tuesday at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center at a conference titled, "HIV Research: The Next Generation."
"Anyone who has any interests in sexual activity needs to know what to do," said Grusky, a professor of sociology. "Students are typically sexually active so they need to know about it."
"Professors are also sexually active and need to learn also," he added.
At the conference, graduate students, mostly from UCLA but also from other California schools, came to present the original research they have been working on in the area of HIV and AIDS.
Projects ranged from an examination of why prostitutes are willing to risk HIV through unsafe sex in their work, to an examination of the effect creative writing can have on the psyche of someone dealing with HIV or AIDS.
"Medical advances have helped us to fight AIDS, but they aren't effective without the social sciences," Grusky said. "For example, how do you help children who have HIV adhere to a very difficult medication regimen when that medication makes them quite sick?"
"I think it's very important work because, just like the work that doctors do, this helps people."
Many of the projects were also done by international students, such as an examination of HIV and AIDS knowledge in Myanmar and Vietnam.
"I'm glad that they did a lot of things in countries that weren't our own," said Sharon Farge, a member of the AIDS Service Center in Pasadena.
In addition to the informational benefits of the research presentations, the conference gave students a taste of what scholarly life is like by preparing them for even larger national and international conferences they may participate in later in their career.
Applications were sent to faculty at various schools throughout the area who then picked students who were doing promising research in the field of HIV and AIDS.
"I think for students interested in HIV it's useful to present your research and meet people in the field," said Sung-Jae Lee, a presenter at the conference.
After students presented their research, the audience was invited to ask questions or give suggestions about what they could do in the future to broaden their study.
In addition, audience members, who were often from health organizations in the area, had the opportunity to speak with each other about their work. As a result, several organizations are planning interdisciplinary collaborations.
"We're starting to have some of these connections where community groups are coming to researchers with their needs," said Mark Etzel, a member of the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services, the organization that sponsored the event.