The More You Know: The Basics of Syphilis and Advancements in HIV Care

Welcome to season 2 of Psych and the City! Sarah speaks with coworker Dr. Jeffrey Birnbaum, a pediatric HIV specialist who has been working in HIV care since 1992. For the first part of the episode, Sarah and Jeff discuss perinatal HIV, injectable HIV treatment, and why transgender people are at an increased risk for HIV. Jeff and Sarah discuss a somewhat controversy in HIV medicine - if positive parents should breastfeed infants. Jeff is a bit of a pioneer in the field for supporting parents. Next, Sarah and Jeff discuss symptoms and treatment of the STD syphilis so you can know what to expect. While this episode leans a little medical, Jeff helps us understand syphilis and HIV better way better. Plus, we made a jingle. Even nuanced conversations about sex education can be super fun and interesting. Dr. Jeffrey Birnbaum is the Executive Director of HEAT, where he has provided medical care to hundreds of HIV+ and high risk youth ages 13-24 since 1992.  Dr. Birnbaum is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. In addition to his clinical work at HEAT, he devotes much of his time in community mobilization efforts to identify and engage HIV+ youth in care.  He has pioneered efforts in Brooklyn to engage young gay and bisexual male youth and transgender youth from communities of color in medical care, prevention activities and HIV counseling and testing efforts. Breakdown of Episode:Introduction to EpisodeBreastfeeding and Perinatal HIV HIV and Transgender CommunitiesSyphilisWhat is Syphilis?Treatment of SyphilisTesting and Additional Information about SyphilisResources:  https://heatprogram.org/about-us/cdc.gov/std/syphilis/Syphilis-pocket-guide-final-508.pdfcdc.gov/std/treatment-guidelines/syphilis.htmcdc.gov/std/syphilis/stdfact-syphilis.htmcdc.gov/hiv/pdf/policies/cdc-hiv-transgender-brief.pdf