Dr. Bernard Branson has been involved with HIV testing for more than 30 years. He was the lead author of CDC’s 2006 revised recommendations for HIV screening in health care settings and, most recently, the June 2014 HIV testing recommendations that updated the U.S. laboratory HIV testing algorithm for the first time in 25 years. He is a graduate of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and completed his postgraduate clinical training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Branson joined the CDC in 1990 and served as Associate Director for Laboratory Diagnostics in CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention for eleven years prior to his retirement in October 2014. Since then, Dr. Branson has provided expert consultation on HIV diagnostics, developed continuing medical education activities, and devoted his efforts to promoting the adoption of biomedical interventions such as treatment to achieve HIV viral suppression and pre-exposure prophylaxis.
At the completion of this educational session, learners will:
- Understand and be able to compare the relative sensitivity of FDA-approved HIV tests during seroconversion.
- Be aware of the recommended sequence of tests for the diagnosis of HIV and active HCV infections and recognize how long-term viral suppression and PrEP might affect diagnostic test results.
- Appreciate the benefits of screening for undiagnosed HIV and HCV infections and for acute HIV infection.
- Describe new HIV tests on the horizon.
This CME activity was approved for
AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ on October 17, 2017 and will terminate October 16, 2020.
The target audience is all physicians, NPs and PAs involved or interested in HIV education.
This online video and post-activity evaluation are one hour in length.
After you complete the video portion of this educational activity there will be a post-activity evaluation and quiz.
You must achieve at least 70% correct to receive your CME certificate.
If successful, you will be provided instructions to print your CME certificate at the completion of this activity.
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) and the Physicians’ Research Network (PRN). MSSNY is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Medical Society of the State of New York designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.0
AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with extent of their participation in the activity.
Policies and standards of MSSNY require that speakers and planners for CME activities disclose any relevant financial relationships they may have with commercial interests whose products, devices or services may be discussed in the content of a CME activity.
Dr. James Braun (Planner/Course Director) had no relevant financial relationships to disclose.
Dr. Branson (Presenter) has had the following personal financial relationships in the past 12 months with manufacturers of the products or services that may be presented in this CME activity: Consultant to Gilead. Dr. Branson will support his presentation and clinical recommendations with the best available evidence from the medical literature, and will submit his slides in advance for adequate peer review.
This PRN CME activity is funded in part by unrestricted educational grants from:
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, Merck & Co, and ViiV Healthcare.
To obtain CME credit for this PRN program, please visit the
PRN Courses Page at the Clinical Education Initiative (CEI) web site. PRN and the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) jointly sponsor PRN enduring materials for CME, and provide them at no cost to the AIDS Institute of the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) for broadcast through the CEI. We thank the NYSDOH for making our CME programs available to a wider audience, and hope you will also browse the many other educational opportunities offered by the CEI.
