WVU expert briefed congressional panel on needle exchange

WVU infectious disease expert Judith Feinberg, MD, participated in a briefing for members of Congress and their staffs on Capitol Hill Tuesday, April 24, at noon in the Congressional Visitor Center.

Dr. Feinberg is the vice chair of the HIV Medicine Association and co-leader of a federally-funded project to reduce the incidence of infectious diseases in communities hard-hit by the opioid crisis.

The session, Using Harm Reduction Strategies to End the Opioid and Hepatitis B and C Epidemics, focused on the need to expand access to syringe exchange programs as recommended by the National Academies’ National Strategy for the Elimination of Hepatitis B and C report.

The briefing was sponsored by NASTAD (National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors), the Congressional Hepatitis Caucus, the Hepatitis Appropriations Partnership, Hep B United, and the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable. Additional panelists included Wilson M. Compton, M.D., deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health; Paul Harkin, program manager, GLIDE Foundation; and Randy Kier, a community health worker.

The briefing was held on Tuesday, April 24 at noon in Congressional Meeting Room North (CVC 268).

Contact:
Tara Scatterday, West Virginia University, tscatterday@hsc.wvu.edu
Kyle Taylor, NASTAD ktaylor@nastad.org