The Community Consortium is an association of more than 200 licensed health care providers who care for the majority of people with HIV infection in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our administrative base is the UCSF Positive Health Program at San Francisco General Hospital.
Our members work in neighborhood clinics, community hospitals, private practices, academic medical centers, correctional systems, jails, and health maintenance organizations.
Our mission is to improve the quality of primary medical care for people living with HIV/AIDS in the San Francisco Bay Area. We achieve our mission by furnishing primary care providers in the Bay Area with the latest information on the most effective treatments for HIV disease, by evaluating a broad range of promising treatments and treatment strategies, and by influencing public policy that directly impacts the provision of primary medical care to people with HIV infection.
Educational Programs and Information Services
The Community Consortium has several educational programs that help medical professionals and individuals with HIV stay up to date on the current progress of HIV research. These programs provide an opportunity for individuals to debate controversial issues, to solicit advice from colleagues and friends, and to learn the latest thinking on HIV management. And, our programs can help HIV providers earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits at no charge. Such programs include our Report Back Meetings which occur after the major conferences; CROI, ICAAC, IAS, as well as our quarterly CME conferences.
The Community Consortium also provides general information services that benefit individuals with HIV and their health providers. Some of these services, such as our web site and our two quarterly newsletters, Synopsis and the Community Consortium News, provide information on Community Consortium activities including open clinical trials, research advances, as well as upcoming educational opportunities. Community-Based Clinical Research Community-based clinical trials are conducted in the primary care setting of a physician's office, hospital-based outpatient clinic or community health center. Because of their convenience, community-based trials provide easy access to experimental therapy for large numbers of people with HIV. The Community Consortium has been conducting community-based clinical trials since 1986. We investigate promising HIV-related therapies and treatment strategies as part of the Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS (CPCRA), a federally funded national network of community-based research groups. We also conduct clinical trials of complementary and alternative treatments. In 1997, the Community Consortium was awarded the first grant from the National Institutes of Health to evaluate the safety and efficacy of smoked marijuana in patients with HIV infection. Since 1986, nearly 4000 people with HIV infection have participated in our community-based clinical trials, and more than 65 of our members have enrolled patients at their primary care sites. Public Policy The Community Consortium is the only voluntary professional organization of HIV/AIDS health care providers in the San Francisco Bay Area, making us a unique voice in local and national public policy debate. Our distinguished membership, combined with our independence from pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, vests our opinions with authority and credibility. And our public policy research, usually in the form of national surveys, supplies meaningful data in a realm of often confusing controversy. Membership Any licensed health care provider may become a member of the Community Consortium. A primary benefit of membership is the opportunity to become involved in HIV research. As a member, you can participate in the design and evaluation of our research studies. You can have your practice registered as a clinical research site, bringing you and your patients directly into our clinical research program and allowing access to the expertise and support of our on-site staff. You can even become a principal investigator for a study idea of your own, collaborating with fellow members and Community Consortium staff to develop and implement investigations that will contribute to the Community Consortium's mission to improve HIV primary care. As a member you will also be able to do more than just chime in on HIV-related policy decisions. You can help shape the Community Consortium's policy agenda, and if there is an issue that particularly concerns you, the Community Consortium's resources can be committed to the initiation of your own investigative survey. And, Community Consortium meetings and programs will help you stay on top of current HIV-related news and inside the debates of the day. Finally, all Community Consortium members enjoy our educational programs and information services for free, including our CME conferences. Annual dues are $35 for physicians; $25 for other health care providers. To become a member of the Community Consortium call the our central office at (415) 476-9554 ext. 332, or fill out the membership form and send this form along with your payment, made payable to the Regents of the University of California, to Community Consortium, Attn: Membership, 3180 18th Street, Suite 201, San Francisco, CA, 94110.
UCSF | Positive Health Program 3180 18th Street Suite 201 | San Francisco, CA 94110 Copyright 1999-2000 University of California Regents. All Rights Reserved
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