From April 4-5th 2025, The 15th International Workshop on Women & HIV was held in Barcelona, Spain. This conference is held annually, and is an opportunity for notable researchers in the fields of infectious disease and women’s health, to come together and discuss their latest findings from research on HIV care in women. This year’s conference had a strong presence for the RID Program team, with two posters being presented on RID Program research. Additionally, the two lead authors for these posters RID Program Investigator Dr. Jeffrey Wong and FLEX Project student Rosa Balleny attended the conference and presented the posters to study attendees. Both posters were presented during the second poster session of the conference, which had a specific focus on research on antretroviral medications. The first of their two posters was entitled “Perinatal and Early Infant Outcomes After Bictegravir Exposure in Pregnancy: a Canadian Surveillance Study” and described the results of a study conducted on the impacts on perinatal outcomes of the antiretroviral medication Bictegravir being taken by pregnant parents. The second poster was entitled “Perinatal and Neonatal Outcomes After 1st vs. 2nd Generation INSTI Use in Pregnancy” and described the results of a project completed by Rosa Balleny at the RID Program as part of her medical school FLEX block, which was to determine the difference in impact on perinatal/infant outcomes between using first and second generation integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) in pregnancy, which are a type of antiretroviral medication used in HIV care. Both poster presentations were received very well, with both Dr. Wong and Rosa excellently answering questions from attendees.
To read the abstracts of the posters, click here to access the conference abstract book! For more information about the conference, click here to access the program book!