L to R: Timothy E. Wirth, President, United
Nations Foundation and Better World Fund,
Jim Yong Kim, Harvard Medical School,
David Baltimore (moderator), AAAS
President, California Institute of
Technology and UNAIDS Executive
Director Dr Peter Piot.The 2008 Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science took place in Boston, USA from 14-18 February and brought together science and technology professionals from 56 countries to discuss the latest scientific breakthroughs and challenges.
President of the AAAS, Nobel Prize winner Mr. David Baltimore, said that the event was the ‘largest and most important interdisciplinary scientific gathering of the year’. The main focus of the conference was on the power of science, technology and education, to assist less developed segments of world society while improving cooperation among developed countries and spurring knowledge-driven transformation across scientific disciplines.
Some 10,000 people attended the conference including leading scientists, engineers, educators, and policy-makers as well as members of the national and international media.
The meeting ran under the umbrella theme of "Science and Technology from a Global Perspective" and the program highlighted areas of research, new developments, and cross-cutting activities in support of science, technology and education around the world.
UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot
spoke on a plenary panel session on
Global Health Challenges on Monday 18
February. Among the 150 symposiums and presentations was a round table discussion on the state of public health which focused particularly on AIDS and tuberculosis; presentations on the search for a global AIDS vaccine and the challenge of comprehensive HIV control in sub-Saharan Africa.
UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot spoke on a plenary panel session on Global Health Challenges on the closing day of the conference together with Jim Yong Kim from the Harvard School of Public Health and Timothy Worth, President of the UN Foundation and Better World Fund. The session was moderated by AAAS President David Baltimore.
