Category Archives: The Pitt Men’s Study

Pitt Men’s Study 40th Year Celebration

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The Pitt Men’s Study recently celebrated our 40th Anniversary! We had an event for our participants at the University Club on September 27th. A representative from Mayor Gainey’s office, Rick Williams, gave a proclamation declaring September 27, 2024 as Pitt Men’s Study Day. We also received letters from Senators Bob Casey and John Fetterman, Governor Josh Shapiro, and Congresswoman Summer Lee recognizing the importance of the study and thanking our participants. We acknowledged our study participants who’ve been coming in for 40 years. And we enjoyed a musical performance from David Hawkins. Thanks to all of our participants, staff and researchers!

Principal investigator Dr. Charles Rinaldo, NCAB co-chair Marc Wagner, rep to Mayor's office Rick Williams

Principal investigator Dr. Charles Rinaldo, NCAB co-chair Marc Wagner, rep to Mayor’s office Rick Williams

Pitt Men’s Study marks 40 years of AIDS research

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From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette…

“People were dying and we didn’t know why,” said Marc C. E. Wagner [researcher at the University of Pittsburgh]. “I knew it was a devastating condition, even early on.”

Through gay bars and picnics, word began to spread about a study at the University of Pittsburgh investigating the disease, and on April 1, 1984, the study officially began recruiting its first participants.

Newspaper headline saying 10 thousdand local gay men will be sought four year AIDS study
Newspaper headline announces recruitment for the Men’s Study in 1984.

Forty years later, the Pitt Men’s Study is one of the longest-running studies on HIV and AIDS in the country. About 2000 men have participated since the beginning, coming every six months to give blood samples and answer questionnaires, building a scientific goldmine in the process.

Read the full article on the Post Gazette webpage.

Unsung heroes: Pittsburgh men, decades-long study impact HIV/AIDS research

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From the Triblive.com…

As they have for more than three decades, the Pitt Men’s Study leaders gathered with about four dozen men and women. They remembered those who have died and gave thanks for the 1,743 men who have participated in the nation’s longest-running HIV/AIDS research project.

Charles Rinaldo, a Ph.D. scientist who has led the effort since the virus surfaced here in 1981, walked solemnly down the center aisle with a group of clergy.

“So here we are again to honor our participants,” the soft-spoken Rinaldo said, welcoming the sparse group. “For 35 years now, you have supported our study for HIV/AIDS. … We can’t thank you enough. Without you, there is no study.”

Every six months, year after year, participants have trekked to Oakland to offer blood and bodily fluids. Their alms have become the foundation of hundreds of research projects.

The Pitt study, conducted in the halls of the university where Jonas Salk developed the world’s first polio vaccine, began before the affliction that has killed an estimated 32 million people worldwide even had a name: human immunodeficiency virus. Or simply, HIV.
Neither the virus nor its final, deadly stage — acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS — dominates the news and national fears as they did decades ago. Yet around the world, about 38 million people remain infected. Many are living longer lives thanks to lifesaving, though expensive, medical treatments. But there is no cure — yet.
Worldwide, an estimated 1.7 million people became infected with HIV last year. Another 770,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses.

In the United States, just more than 1 million people are believed to be living with HIV. Although the number of new infections has declined dramatically, nearly 40,000 in the U.S. still contract HIV every year. And about 16,000 people died from AIDS in the United States in 2016.

Because of that, work on the Pitt Men’s Study continues.

Read the full article.