There has been widespread misinformation and confusion about Monkeypox, what the virus does, how it's passed and who's at risk. Join us for an in-depth conversation and community forum on the Monkeypox virus and San Francisco's state of emergency.

What is monkeypox?

What are the symptoms?

How can we protect ourselves?

Why aren't there enough vaccines?

Is the virus mutating?

Let's find out from infectious disease and public health experts Dr. Monica Ghandi and journalist Liz Highleyman...

Want to read more about the San Francisco's State of Emergency on Monkeypox? Come check out this article

https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/monkeypox-sf-state-of-emergency-17335483.php

This event is virtual because our speakers are joining us from outside the United States.

About Dr. Monica Gandhi:

Monica Gandhi MD, MPH is Professor of Medicine and Associate Division Chief (Clinical Operations/ Education) of the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at UCSF/ San Francisco General Hospital. She also serves as the Director of the UCSF Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and the Medical director of the HIV Clinic at SFGH ("Ward 86"). Dr. Gandhi completed her M.D. at Harvard Medical School and then came to UCSF in 1996 for residency training in Internal Medicine. After her residency, Dr. Gandhi completed a fellowship in Infectious Diseases and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, both at UCSF. She also obtained a Masters in Public Health from Berkeley in 2001 with a focus on Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

Dr. Gandhi's current research program is on identifying low-cost solutions to measuring antiretroviral levels in resource-poor settings, such as determining drug levels in hair and urine samples. Dr. Gandhi also works on pre-exposure prophylaxis and treatment strategies for HIV infection in women. .

Dr. Gandhi also has an interest at UCSF in HIV education and mentorship. She also served as the principal investigator of an R24 mentoring grant from the NIH focused on nurturing early career investigators of diversity in HIV research, from which launched the annual "Mentoring the Mentors" workshop for HIV researchers held annually by the UCSF CFAR to train mentors in specialized tools and techniques of effective mentoring. She is also the co-director of the CFAR Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS) Mentoring Program. She co-directs the HIV/ID Consult Service at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), attends on the inpatient HIV/Infectious Diseases consult service, sees patients at Ward 86 as an HIV care provider, and serves as the Associate Director of the UCSF ID fellowship for Clinical Research.

About Liz Highleyman:

Liz Highleyman is a medical journalist who has been covering HIV and sexual health for more than 20 years. She is science editor for POZ magazine and covers HIV, COVID, and now monkeypox for the Bay Area Reporter.