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The roundtable was hosted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Shubhra Shetty, MD, medical director of The Wright Center for Community Health Ryan White Infectious Disease Clinic (TWC) in Scranton and regional associate dean and a professor of medicine at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM), on Aug. 29 took part in an Ending HIV Roundtable hosted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Washington, DC. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex M. Azar attended the meeting to learn about innovative approaches to the care and treatment of HIV positive patients in non-metropolitan areas. 

HHS invited Dr. Shetty and TWC’s Sister Ruth Neeley, CRNP, to share their experiences and insights in achieving an “undetectable viral load” in 86 percent of the patients they see at the TWC clinic. The clinic’s success in driving patients’ “viral load” to undetectable levels is impressive not only because it benefits an individual patient’s health and well-being, but also because it’s a population health victory and a step toward HIV eradication. A person with an undetectable viral load cannot transmit HIV.

Dr. Shetty credits a “genuine team-based approach,” involving physicians, a peer counselor, social workers, a nutritionist, mental health specialists and nurse practitioners, for building the trust with patients necessary for them to comply with medication regimens and keep all follow-up appointments.

Shubhra Shetty, MD, at Ending HIV Roundtable in Washington, DC, 2019
Dr. Shubhra Shetty, left, discusses how her team achieved an “undetectable viral load” in 86 percent of the patients they see at The Wright Center for Community Health Ryan White Infectious Disease Clinic in Scranton with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex M. Azar as Sister Ruth Neely, CRNP listens.