A Message From Your Friends At The Southeast AETC: Our hearts go out to those in our community who were affected by the hurricanes. If you have patients that are having trouble accessing HIV services during this time, we urge you to utilize HRSA’s Find a Ryan White Provider tool to help navigate them to services nearby.

24th Annual HIV Symposium: Innovative Solutions for Persistent Problems Banner

Please join the Tennessee AETC for the 24th Annual HIV Symposium! Although HIV care and treatment services have come a long way, there are both old and new challenges for HIV providers to manage alongside their patients. This year’s conference will cover topics such as:

  • State of the State of HIV
  • Navigating Medicare
  • Integrating behavioral health in HIV primary care
  • Trauma-Informed Care
  • Syringe Service Programs
  • Alternative PrEP dosing strategies
  • Linkage & engagement in rural areas
  • HIV Medication Pipeline

6 hours of CME and CE available. More information below.

Presenter Bios

Pamela Talley, MD, MPH

Medical Director, HIV/STD/Viral Hepatitis
Tennessee Department of Health
Division of Communicable, Environmental Diseases & Emergency Preparedness

Dr. Talley is medical epidemiologist with the Tennessee Department of Health and serves as the Medical Director of the HIV/STD/Viral Hepatitis section. She oversees HIV prevention and surveillance as well as the administration of the Ryan White Part B program serving low-income Tennesseans living with HIV. Dr. Talley received her medical training at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, her family medicine training at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and after 20 years in practice, her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology at the Colorado School ofPublic Health followed by 2 years as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer for the CDC. She has been at the department of health since 2016. In addition to her role at the health department, she serves on the executive committee of the Center for AIDS Research, on several work groups for the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and is a board member of the International Health Facility Diversion Association.

Samantha Hill, MD, MPH

Assistant Professor of Medicine
Division of Adolescent Medicine
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine

Dr. Hill is a pediatrician and adolescent medicine physician at UAB who leverages her clinical, research, and advocacy expertise to provide PrEP for HIV prevention in addition to HIV care to adolescents and young adults. She received her medical degree from Morehouse School of Medicine and went onto complete a pediatric residency at Thomas Jefferson University / A.I. duPont Hospital for Children. From there, she went to UAB School of Medicine to complete an Adolescent Medicine Fellowship, also completing a Master of Public Health in Maternal & Child Health Care Policy and Leadership. Dr. Hill spends most of her time in researchstudying ways to improve the lives of adolescents and teens living with HIV or using preexposure prophylaxisand the rest of her time in the clinic, providing sexual health, reproductive and HIV care, and mentoring students. Her goal is to empower her patients and her community.

Raven O’Rourke, LCSW, MPH

Social Work Team Lead
Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic

Raven O’Rourke has been the Social Work Team Lead for 6 years at the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic, which serves 3500 patients living with HIV. Along with the rest of the social work team, Raven is responsible for enrolling and maintaining Medicare insurance, ACA coverage and Ryan White eligibility for 1300 of those patients. Raven has had various roles in the past 11 years including counselor, educator, and advocate in both Nashville and New Orleans. She graduated from Tulane University with Masters’ degrees in Social Work and Public Health in 2011. She enjoys cooking, traveling with her partner, and reading with her lap dog, Vegas.

R. Scott Adams, PMHNP

Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Scott Adams received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Belmont University in Nashville, TN, and later went on to complete a Master of Science in Nursing from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Originally from Dyersburg, TN, Scott serves as a PsychiatricMental Health Nurse Practitioner at the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic, a Primary Care Medical Home serving over 3,000 people with HIV in Middle Tennessee. Scott has been involved in psychiatric care for 34 years and has been at the VCCC since 2002.

Alexandria Harvick, MSN, APRN, PMHNP

Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Allie Harvick was raised in Oxford, MS where she graduated from the University of Mississippi. She earned her Master of Science in Nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She is currently working at theVanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic as a PsychiatricMental Health Nurse Practitioner. Her education and career goals have focused on interprofessional learning and expanding access to mental health care. Her clinical interests include LGBTQ+ mental health with an emphasis in people living with HIV.

Christopher James, MSW, LCSW

Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Chris completed his Master of Social Work degree at Western Kentucky University and has been a Licensed Clinical Social worker for over 5 years. Chris’ career has largely consisted of mental health crisis assessment and intervention in both ER and general medical settings and providing inpatient psychiatric social work services. Chris is currently serving as a Behavioral Health Consultant and Psychotherapist at the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic, where he has developed an integrative behavioral health model of care. Chris is passionate about creating greater access to mental health services and providing a safe space for individuals to heal. In his free time, Chris enjoys spending time with his two dogs, Mollie and Penelope, and exploring the outdoors.

Ana Simonyan, PharmD, BCACP

Clinical Pharmacist, Infectious Diseases
Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy

Ana Simonyan, PharmD, BCACP graduated from the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis in 2018. She completed a PGY1 Community Pharmacy Residency at Cleveland Clinic Main Campus, and a PGY2 Ambulatory Care Residency at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy/General Internal Medicine. Following residency, Ana obtained a position as a Clinical Pharmacist in the Infectious Diseases Clinic at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. As a member of the Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy team, Ana has the great pleasure of serving on a collaborative and innovative interdisciplinary team caring for patients with viral hepatitis, complex infections, and those on HIV PrEP to assist with all aspects of medication selection, access, management, and monitoring. Ana is passionate about teaching, demonstrating pharmacist value through outcomes, creating and expanding new clinical services, and providing exceptional care through specialty disease state management. Ana enjoys speaking engagements that allow for opportunities to discuss exciting growth with the ID space!

Alicia Gladman

Harm Reduction Lead Coordinator
Cempa Community Care

Alicia Gladman is the Harm Reduction Lead Coordinator for Cempa Community Care and the STEP TN Syringe Service Program. She has worked in the field of harm reduction since 2008, originally on the West Coast of Canada, where she worked in health research and community outreach. In her work, she has come to see harm reduction as a dynamic and integral part of traumainformed healthcare.

Christopher Hurt, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Principal Investigator, North Carolina AETC

Christopher B. Hurt, MD is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). He received his medical degree from the University of Florida in 2003, completed his internal medicine training at Brown University, and then came to UNC for fellowship training in infectious diseases in 2006. He has been a faculty member in the UNC School of Medicine since 2010. Over the past several years, Dr. Hurt has worked extensively on issues related to the expansion of HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services in North Carolina. He established the UNC Infectious Diseases Clinic’s PrEP program and coordinates PrEPrelated education and outreach efforts in his role as Principal Investigator of the North Carolina partner site of the Southeast AETC.

Rebecca Dillingham, MD, MPH

Professor of Medicine
Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health
University of Virginia

Rebecca Dillingham, MD, MPH, is a physician and clinical researcher who specializes in treating patients living with HIV. She sees patients at the Ryan White Clinic at UVA and directs a clinic that serves patients coinfected with HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) as well as HCV monoinfected patients. Her research focuses on innovative mobile strategies to improve disease outcomes in HIV and other chronic conditions. Dr. Dillingham grew up in Missouri and now lives in Charlottesville with her husband and two children. She earned her bachelor’s in history and science from Harvard/Radcliffe College, and her medical degree summa cum laude from the University of Missouri, Columbia. She came to UVA in 1999 for an internship and residency in internal medicine, followed by a fellowship in infectious disease. She joined the faculty in 2006, and earned a Master of Public Health in 2007.Since 2012, Dr. Dillingham has directed the Center for Global Health at UVA. The center supports UVA students, faculty and community members as they explore and address health inequities.

Ava Lena D. Waldman, MHS, CCRP

Project Manager, PositiveLinks
University of Virginia, School of Medicine

Ava Lena D. Waldman, MHS CCRP is a public health and clinical research professional who specializes in project management of mHealth platforms developed to improve engagement with care for people living with chronic conditions.Ms. Waldman received her Bachelor of Arts from Wellesley College and Master of Health Science in Behavioral Science & Health Education and Certificate in Health Communication from The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. She managed HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and treatment programs at a wide range of organizations on both coasts, prior to moving to Charlottesville, VA. She came to UVA in 2014 to join the research team developing PositiveLinks, a mHealth platform developed with and for people living HIV. Presently, Ms. Waldman manages a portfolio of mHealth projects for this multidisciplinary team and delivers technical assistance to organizations around the country deploying the PositiveLinks platform. Since 2019, Ms. Waldman has served on the University of Virginia Health Sciences Research InstitutionalReview Board. In 2020, she joined the UVA HSR Post Approval Monitoring Committee.

Continuing Education Information

Sponsored by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Division of Infectious Diseases. Vanderbilt University Medical Center is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Vanderbilt University Medical Center designates this live activity for a maximum of six (6) AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. It is the policy of the ACCME and Vanderbilt University Medical Center to require disclosure of financial relationships from individuals in a position to control the content of a CME activity; to identify and resolve conflicts of interest related to those relationships; and to make disclosure information available to the audience prior to the CME activity. Presenters are required to disclose discussions of unlabeled/unapproved uses of drugs or devices during their presentations. Contact [email protected] for more information.

The North Florida AIDS Education and Training Center is a Florida Board of Nursing, Clinical Social Work, Marriage, Family Therapy, Mental Health Counseling, Pharmacy, Psychology, and Dentistry approved provider of continuing education. CE Broker Provider ID #50‐21098. This program meets the requirements for up to 6.0 general contact hours. CE Broker Course Tracking number: 20-861197. Participants must attend at least 70% of the activity to obtain continuing education credits. For questions regarding CE, please contact our Continuing Education Coordinator at [email protected].