HIV Care in St. Petersburg, Russia: An Interview With Ben Young, M.D., Ph.D.

HIV clinician and researcher Benjamin Young, M.D., Ph.D., recently returned from St. Petersburg, Russia, where he has been helping train health care providers. In this interview, Dr. Young explains the trials and tribulations that come with trying to help ramp up HIV care in a city where HIV is rapidly spreading and the health care system is struggling to keep pace. He also discusses about the impact of his work abroad on his own clinical practice in Denver, and discusses the challenges an English-speaking physician faces when he tries to train health workers who speak a language in which he hasn't the slightest idea how to communicate. Dr. Young, an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of Colorado and a consultant physician for Denver ID Consultants at Rose Medical Center in Denver, Colo., is actively involved in educating health care professionals and community groups throughout the world on HIV-related subjects. He has devoted the past two years to training HIV physicians in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.