MISSION STATEMENT

HISTORY

EXECUTIVE ADVISORY
BOARD

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

COMMUNITY ADVISORY
BOARD

STAFF DIRECTORY

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

During the first few years of its existence, the Community Consortium was a loosely structured, voluntary association of physicians, but in 1988, a more formal organizational structure was established through the adoption of bylaws and membership criteria. At that time two groups were formed to provide direction for Community Consortium programs: a 10-member Executive Advisory Board elected from the Community Consortium membership, and a Community Advisory Board, comprised of people with HIV infection and their advocates. Since its formation in 1985, the Community Consortium has grown more than 10-fold and now includes approximately 250 physicians, nurses and other health care providers from communities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Community Consortium members continue to meet each month to discuss clinical issues in the management of HIV disease and the results of the latest research on new experimental therapies. These meetings consistently attract from 50 to 70 members.

In 1986, the Community Consortium began its clinical research program with the first "community-based" clinical trial of an HIV-related treatment in the United States. Community-based trials are designed to be conducted in the primary care settings of a physician's office, hospital-based outpatient clinic or community health center. Because these studies are conducted in primary care settings, rather than in centralized research facilities, they can provide access to experimental treatments for large numbers of patients with HIV infection.

After the success of one of the Community Consortium's first studies – which led to FDA approval of aerosolized pentamidine for the prevention of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia – the Community Consortium was awarded a 5-year contract in 1989 from the National Institutes of Health to conduct community-based clinical trials under the aegis of the newly established Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS (CPCRA).

In 1994, the Community Consortium successfully re-competed for a second 5-year CPCRA grant. The Community Consortium also conducts clinical trials outside the aegis of the CPCRA, including studies of complementary and alternative treatments, which are funded by other government and non-government sources. Since 1987, over 3000 people with HIV infection have been enrolled in Community Consortium community-based clinical trials by more than 65 providers at primary care sites in San Francisco, Alameda and Marin Counties.

In addition to our clinical research program and monthly meetings, the Community Consortium has educational programs that include 'Report Back' meetings from National and International Conferences and Continuing Medical Education Conferences. These conferences and meetings provide members with opportunities for a more focused discussion of specific problems in the treatment of HIV disease. The Community Consortium also publishes a quarterly newsletter, Synopsis, which provides a summary of the Consortium's meetings and educational events. The Community Consortium also conducts research on issues of public policy that affect the provision of primary medical care to people with HIV infection, and does a limited amount of advocacy with local and state legislators on HIV-related issues.