Over drinks with names like "Fuzzy Fosamprenavir" and "Zidovudine Zombie," Tufts students who had independently worked on HIV/AIDS research and policy gathered to discuss their work and network for future collaboration yesterday.
The event, titled "AIDS Cocktails" after the combination of drugs used to manage the disease, was organized by junior Jeremy Sueker and senior Zeleka Yeraswork. Both have worked on projects related to HIV/AIDS.
Sueker said the event was necessary because there were a number of students on campus with an interest in HIV/AIDS who had never met their likeminded peers.
"We're not really talking to each other," he said.
The non-alcoholic cocktail party was also an opportunity for networking. "Many of us are likely to end up colleagues in five or 10 years," Sueker said.
The event's goals were to allow students and faculty to network, to encourage collaboration, to create a starting point for interested students to begin research, and eventually to link up with similar groups from other schools.
Sueker said he hopes that by next year the Tufts organization and groups from other schools can join in Boston and hold an undergraduate conference on HIV/AIDS. "I think it's a feasible goal," Sueker said.
Sueker is also working on forming a delegation of undergraduates to attend the World AIDS Conference in Toronto in 2006.
After Sueker spoke, Fletcher School graduate Sasha Charnoff introduced his organization Mapendo, which seeks to help treat HIV/AIDS in refugee
populations.
Presentations included "Madagascar Confronts HIV/AIDS" and "HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for Military and Security."
The numerous sponsors of the event included the University College, the Experimental College and Health Services - the latter contributed funding through a grant for a non-alcoholic student gathering.
"AIDS Cocktails" was part of a weeklong series of events organized around World AIDS Day, which is today.
Tonight, World AIDS Day will be commemorated by a candlelight vigil on the Tisch Library rooftop and a screening of the film "Philadelphia."
