Who We Are
SHARE, the Study to Help the AIDS Research Effort, is one of four clinical sites of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS). The other sites are located in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. The sites were funded in 1983 by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to investigate the natural history of a new infection, that came to be known as HIV/AIDS. In 1987, the Center for the Analysis and Management of MACS data (CAMACS) was established at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The participation of [gay and bisexual] men in SHARE and the other MACS sites has produced an enormous amount of information that has greatly improved understanding and treatment of HIV disease. You can search scientific reports from SHARE and MACS by going to the CAMACS website and clicking on Archives.
What We Do
The study seeks to:
- Characterize the range of responses to HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy), with special emphasis on the disease stage at which HAART is taken
- Define the effect of HAART on clinical outcomes i.e., AIDS, infections, etc.
- Compare clinical outcomes in people who receive HAART and those who do not
- Characterize the long-term adverse effects and treatment-related effects of HAART
- Describe long-term patterns of HAART use
- Ascertain long-term patterns of behavior that can lead to the spread of HIV infection