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UCSF AETC Group

The AETC Group Mission

  • To provide health care professionals and organizations with the knowledge, skills, and support necessary to care for HIV-infected patients in underserved and vulnerable populations
  • To increase the numbers of trained health care professionals working in the US and internationally with HIV-infected patients
  • To respond to the needs of high-risk populations and the changing face of the epidemic

UCSF’s AETC Group is a comprehensive Center that provides AIDS-related training, education, information, technical assistance, and capacity building services to health care providers and clinics serving the most vulnerable and underserved communities in California, the PAETC Region, and internationally. The AETC Group is an affiliate of the University of California, San Francisco; AIDS Research Institute (ARI); and Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS).

The AETC Group works closely with HRSA, the CA State Office of AIDS and philanthropic individuals and foundations to identify and address specific HIV/AIDS training and education needs in the regions and countries.  The AETC Group’s major education and training projects include:

  • Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center (PAETC) familymedicine.medschool.ucsf.edu/paetc
    The Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center (PAETC) provides AIDS-related training, education and information services to health care providers in California, Arizona, Hawai’i and Nevada. PAETC has 15 local sites in these states that provide services in their local region.
  • International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) www.go2itech.org
    A joint program between the University of Washington and UCSF, I-TECH works in 15 African, Caribbean, and Southeast Asian countries and has established training offices in 11 countries.  I-TECH provides a range of services to local Ministries of Health and the CDC, including training and education, curriculum development, monitoring and evaluation, technical assistance on a variety of issues including informatics and lab systems development, and clinical expertise in a number of special areas. For more information.
  • Center of Excellence for Transgender Health (COE) transhealth.ucsf.edu
    The Center of Excellence for Transgender Health (CoE) combines the unique strengths and resources of a nationally renowned training and capacity building institution, the Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center (PAETC), and an internationally recognized leader in HIV prevention research, the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS), both of which are housed at the University of California San Francisco.

    The ultimate CoE goal is to improve the overall health and well-being of transgender individuals by developing and implementing programs in response to community identified needs. We include community perspectives by actively engaging a national advisory body (NAB) of 14 transgender identified leaders from throughout the country. The collective experience of our diverse and talented NAB assures that our programs address issues that are timely and relevant to the community.

    Below are brief descriptions of four of the primary programs currently being delivered by the CoE. More program areas are under development and as those are implemented they will be added to this list so be sure and come back to check on our progress.

    Coalitions in Action for Transgender Community Health (CATCH): The CATCH Model develops local coalitions by organizing local “town halls” in order to guide a community mobilization process that promotes provider networking and community utilization of existing services. The coalitions lead data collection and analysis efforts, prioritize prevention needs, develop a comprehensive plan to strengthen community access to and utilization of HIV prevention services, and decide how to evaluate these efforts.

    The Transitions Project: Provides free trainings and capacity building assistance throughout the United States to promote knowledgeable, sensitive, and effective HIV/AIDS prevention for diverse transgender (trans) communities, particularly trans communities of color. The goal of the transitions project is to increase the capacity of community based organizations to adapt, implement, and evaluate evidence based HIV prevention interventions for trans communities.

    Transgender Women’s Study: This project seeks to investigate unique risk factors to develop a culturally relevant HIV prevention intervention for high-risk transgender women. Such interventions are urgently needed as they have the potential to curb new HIV infections within this group and to decrease the likelihood of transgender women living with HIV transmitting the virus to their sex partners.

    The Primary Care Protocols Project is developing treatment information for Primary Care Physicians, Family Practitioners, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants whose practice includes transgender patients, or who are interested in providing care to transgender patients. Under the guidance of a Medical Advisory Board, UCSF staff is creating a web-based delivery system for this information, and will deliver three regional trainings within California in the first phase of the project. Phase two will expand the dissemination and training of clinicians throughout the Pacific Region and beyond.

    Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/transhealth

  • HIV Mentoring in Rural Areas
    This program will address the needs of underserved people living with HIV/AIDS in 18-24 of the rural and frontier counties in California for high quality, accessible clinical management and treatment. Of the 58 counties in California, all but 8 contain rural and frontier defined medical service study areas. PAETC proposes to develop a distance based mentoring program utilizing clinical leadership at 3 local performance sites in University of California campuses [San Francisco, San Diego and Davis (Sacramento)]. This program will expand the ability of a minimum of 8 – 10 low-volume HIV care teams practicing in rural northern, central and southern CA to provide high quality HIV care and treatment as well as early diagnosis with improved knowledge and skills. Trainings will be delivered using software, enabling participants to see each other and interact via microphones and webcams. This modality will address the needs of rural-based providers for networking and real-time interactions with peers and academically-based clinical experts. Trainings will be based on the results of needs assessments, and free CMEs and CEs will be available. Rural-based clinical participants will be offered the opportunity for additional training at other PAETC-sponsored activities.
  • Rapid Testing in the Labor and Delivery Setting (RTLD- CA) www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/aids/Pages/Default.aspx
    The RTLD project works with hospital-based Labor and Delivery clinicians in California to assist with implementation of HIV rapid testing for women in labor who have received no previous HIV test results.  PAETC works to ensure the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV, a proven process that is 98% effective.  PAETC offers a wide range of free, high-quality technical assistance services, such as: individualized training and consultation; assistance with writing and implementing policies, procedures and protocols; and current recommendations for the use of antiretroviral drugs.
  • Positive Prevention – Mozambique (PP) http://www.caps.ucsf.edu/research/portfolio/2009/Dawson_C-PosPrevMozambique2009.pdf
    UCSF has partnered with the Mozambique Ministry of Health to conduct an evidence-based Positive Prevention (PP) intervention in rural Mozambique.  Its purpose is to develop a PP intervention that will effectively address the needs of HIV positive individuals through advancing understanding and competency of the specific prevention needs of people living with HIV among healthcare providers, testing and counseling staff, and peer educators.  Piloted in two sites in Maputo Province; the first site focuses on building healthcare provider skills for effective risk assessment and tailoring individual prevention messages for their HIV positive patients. The second site focuses on implementing similar needs-assessment and prevention messages within a community–based Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) center and an accompanying peer support group.  The adapted PP intervention has been guided by its close collaboration with Mozambican health service providers and a peer-led support group.  It focuses on skills building to enhance tailored risk reduction counseling.  Case studies are used to illustrate concepts such as assessment of transmission risk, behavioral risk reduction approaches, encouragement of partner testing and disclosure, PMTCT, and family planning. The project recently published a Positive Prevention Toolkit which is available online at: http://positiveprevention.ucsf.edu/moz?page=moz-AB03OVER.