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INFECTIOUS
DISEASES

A conversation with

Barbara Taylor, M.D., Ph.D.

Interviewed by Michelle Vasquez

What is your area of expertise?
What drove you into this specific area?
I’m an infectious diseases physician, and the focus of my clinical
practice and research is the care of people living with HIV. I started
learning about HIV in college, and when I started medical school
in 1996, there was still no effective treatment, but that changed
quickly. In 1996, the physician who would become my mentor at
Columbia University, Scott Hammer, and others working with the
AIDS Clinical Trials Group, discovered a combination of antiretro-
viral medications that would suppress the virus. This transformed
HIV from a deadly infection to a chronic one. During residency, it
was clear to me that HIV clinical care and research would allow me
to pursue a field that challenged me intellectually while also allowing
me to work with underserved populations on the social justice issues
that were most important to me.

What unique challenges or opportunities do you
have as a physician in San Antonio?
There are so many opportunities. The entire community has
come together to end the HIV epidemic, giving us an amazing op-
portunity to have an impact. The challenges are the things we all
know as physicians: San Antonio has high levels of income dispar-
ities and many people are uninsured. Transportation is difficult for
many of our patients. Unfortunately, in my field, people with HIV
still face a lot of stigma. I have patients whose friends are afraid to
hug them or share dinner plates with them. Even some providers
still think of HIV like we did two decades ago. They don’t realize
that, with treatment, people with HIV can live long and healthy lives
and do not pass the virus on to others. This is a challenge, but one
we’re all working hard to overcome.

Barbara Saatkamp Taylor, M.D., M.S. Epidemiology, FIDSA
Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases What professional accomplishment are you
Assistant Dean for the MD/MPH Program most proud of?
In clinical work and research, there are never any individual ac-

14 San Antonio Medicine • May 2018