Training: Webcasts

Rising STD rates: What journalists need to know

11/01/18     Online

Recorded Nov. 1

After years of decline, the number of sexually transmitted disease diagnoses in the U.S. is on the rise. The CDC found in 2017, there were nearly 2.3 million confirmed cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, up more than 9 percent from 2016. Public health officials say the U.S. now has the highest STD rates in the industrialized world. Our panelists will discuss why this is happening and what journalists need to know. They also will suggest some story ideas to explore and resources for reporters.

• David Harvey, executive director, National Coalition of STD Directors

• Peter Leone, M.D., professor of medicine, School of Medicine; adjunct professor of epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina

• Moderator: Bara Vaida

David Harvey joined NCSD as executive director in October 2016. Previously he was founding executive director of AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth & Families, a national public health association; and president and CEO of Proliteracy, an international adult education organization. Harvey has held positions as project director and policy analyst for the National Disability Rights Network and the University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ’s – National Pediatric & Family HIV Resource Center. He is past executive director of LIFT-DC, an anti-poverty direct service organization in Washington.

Peter Leone, M.D., is professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and adjunct associate professor of epidemiology at the Gillings School of Global Public Health in Chapel Hill, N.C. He serves as medical director of the North Carolina HIV/STD Prevention and Control Branch. Leone earned his medical degree from Northeastern Ohio University College of Medicine in Rootstown, and completed his residency in internal medicine at Akron City Hospital in Ohio and fellowship in infectious diseases at Wake Forest University Bowman Gray School of Medicine in North Carolina. His primary work focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with various sexually transmitted diseases. Leone has authored or coauthored several peer-reviewed articles that have been published in journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and AIDS Education and Prevention.