New Podcast Available: Episode 48 – Breaking the Silence: An Activist’s Approach, with Mary Fisher. https://www.iasusa.org/2025/05/20/going-anti-viral-podcast-episode-48/ or scan the QR code to view more episodes. #GoingAntiViralPodcast #IASUSA Mary Fisher In this episode of Going anti-Viral, Mary Fisher joins host Dr Michael Saag to discuss Communicating the Importance of Science and Research to the Public. Ms Fisher is an artist, author, and activist, who has spent a lifetime giving voice to the voiceless. Her historic speech at the 1992 Republican Convention, A Whisper of AIDS, has been named one of “forty famous speeches that have had long-term effect on society.” In this episode, Ms Fisher discusses her history of activism including her work in Africa before and after the arrival of PEPFAR and the concern for the many communities she worked with given the termination of USAID. Ms Fisher also discusses her new book Uneasy Silence: An activist seeks justice and courage over a lifetime of change where she and Dr Saag stress the importance of speaking out for scientific research given the impact it has on patient care and saving lives. (fb)

New Podcast Available: Episode 47 – 40+ Years of HIV: What’s Changed, What Hasn’t, What Shouldn’t, What Must with Rebecca Denison. https://www.iasusa.org/2025/05/06/going-anti-viral-podcast-episode-47/ or scan the QR code to view more episodes. #GoingAntiViralPodcast #IASUSA In this episode of Going Anti-Viral, Rebecca Denison joins host Dr Michael Saag as a follow-up discussion to her Martin Delaney presentation at CROI 2025: 40+ Years of HIV: What’s Changed, What Hasn’t, What Shouldn’t, What Must. Ms Denison is an HIV-positive writer, educator, mother, and founder of WORLD, Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Diseases. Dr Saag and Ms Denison reflect on her history of living with HIV and her 40 + years as an HIV activist. They discuss the impact that recent cuts at USAID and PEPFAR are having international efforts to reduce HIV transmission and the loss in trust in healthcare practitioners since programs have been terminated. They also discuss concerns about cuts to federal funding for HIV care programs in the US and the impact of recent loss of staff expertise at federal agencies. Finally, Dr Saag and Ms Denison ask all care clinicians to share their stories to their communities as a way of becoming advocates for the importance of HIV care. (fb)