| Wednesday, August 5, 2020, 3:00-5:00PM EST The panel will discuss the findings of the study “Risk for COVID-19 infection and death among Latinos in the United States: Examining heterogeneity in transmission dynamics”. This study is the first nationwide analysis of COVID-19 cases and deaths among Latinos. “We found that crowded housing, air pollution, jobs in the meatpacking and poultry industry and other factors put Latinos at high risk of COVID-19 infections and death,” said lead author of the study Carlos E. Rodriguez-Diaz, Ph.D., MPH. Latinos have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19; as of June 8, 2020, they account for one in three (33%) of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. with known ethnicity/race data. Furthermore, Latinos account for approximately one in five of all confirmed COVID-19-related deaths in the U.S. |
| About the Presenters: |
| Carlos E. Rodriguez-Diaz, PhD. Department of Prevention and Community Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DCDr. Carlos Rodriguez-Diaz is a community health scientist with over fifteen years of experience practicing public health and conducting action research in Puerto Rico, the United States of America, and the Caribbean Region. His work has focused on infectious diseases, particularly HIV care and prevention, as well as sexual health promotion and health equity through actions on the social determinants of health.[more] |  |
| Jeffrey S. Crowley, MPH. The O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown UniversityProfessor Jeffrey Crowley is a widely recognized expert on HIV/AIDS and disability policy. From February 2009 through December 2011, he served as the Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy and Senior Advisor on Disability Policy for President Barack Obama. In this capacity, he led the development of our country’s first domestic National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States, a five-year plan for aligning the efforts of all stakeholders to reduce the number of new HIV infections, increase access to care, and reduce HIV-related health disparities.[more] |  |
| Melissa Marzan-Rodriguez, PhD. Public Health Program, Ponce Health Sciences University, Ponce, Puerto RicoDr. Melissa Marzan has been Assistant Researcher and conducted research in the areas of HIV/AIDS, STD, stigma, and health in teens at the University of Puerto Rico. At UPR she was Principal Investigator of the MECA: Evaluando Actitudes Estigmatizantes (Evaluating Stigmatizing Attitudes) Project. She has experience as field epidemiologist, having been Field Director in the AIDS PACT Sureveillance project of the Health Department of Puerto Rico, and epidemiologist at Caduceous Healthcare, Inc at the Quarantine Station in San Juan (Puerto Rico).[more] |
| Gregorio A. Millet, MPH. amfAR – the Foundation for AIDS ResearchGregorio Millett is a well-published and nationally recognized epidemiologist/researcher with significant experience working at the highest levels of federal HIV policy development at both the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Prior to joining amfAR in May 2014, Mr. Millett served as the HHS/CDC Liaison to the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. Mr. Millett has been credited with changing the underlying assumptions among researchers of observed HIV infection disparities among black men who have sex with men (MsM) and is widely recognized as one of the first researchers to show no protective effect associated with male circumcision for MSM.[more] |
