Terminated and Defamed: Adolescent HIV Trials Network Attacked by US Government
"Please stand with us as we appeal this short-sighted and hopefully misdirected attack on our beloved network."
There’s so much I could post about what’s happening right now. This is just one example that hit my heart hard. As I increase my posting frequency, you’ll hear more - and I’ll include action steps you can take as we try to figure out what the hell to do to help…
The U.S. Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV Interventions (ATN) is was “the only multicenter research network in the United States devoted to the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults living with or at risk for HIV.”
Now it’s not only been instantly and fully terminated, but defamed by the Trump administration along with many other vital projects as “research programs based primarily on artificial and non-scientific categories, including amorphous equity objectives, are antithetical to the scientific inquiry, do nothing to expand our knowledge of living systems, provide low returns on investment, and ultimately do not enhance health, lengthen life, or reduce illness.”
I’m one of the former adolescents who potentially could have benefited from the kind of research that the ATN conducts.
Although I was demographically protected by geography and race, I grew up at high behavioral risk of HIV. Which is to say, I had a ton of condomless sex as a receptive partner — and as an adolescent, I would have had a higher risk of contracting HIV if exposed since adolescent cervixes have a thinner barrier between the cells that pick up HIV and start replicating it.
I didn’t get HIV — but as an AIDS activist, I met and campaigned alongside many young adults who weren’t as lucky as I was, many of whom are no longer alive. But now, decades later, sexually active adolescents (and adults) who can access PrEP are able to avoid HIV acquisition (though there’s still much work to do to get it to those who need it, and that’s some of the research the ATN has been doing.)
I have been on PrEP most of the time since 2014 or so, and was thus protected in 2023 when one of my partners unknowingly had seroconverted (gotten HIV) and had very high viral load. Without it, it’s very likely I would have gotten HIV, adding a huge challenge to my roster of chronic illnesses.
After growing up in very different circumstances, it’s remarkable having the opportunity to parent an adolescent raised with a lot of consistent affection and appropriate attention from many of the adults in her life.
But nonetheless, it’s a really difficult stage of human development - and more so in this awful phase of inhumanity in this country and on this planet, especially for queer, trans and chronically ill/disabled people/families like ours (and even more so for those that lack our privileges of being white/white-passing citizens with adults holding professional class jobs and having a family economic safety net).
It’s striking to see how effectively her adolescent-specialist medical provider at Callen-Lorde connects with my kid in such an age-appropriate way.
Maybe that’s why this one is hitting so hard. And it’s not just the ATN, of course - this list of cancelled HHS projects as of March 20 includes many PrEP-related initiatives that were helping to figure out how to bridge the gaps in HIV prevention (note: I’m not sure if this list was/is complete).
We’ve been asked to share this statement from Dr. Lisa Hightow-Weidman, one of the ATN's two Principal Investigators (thanks to Jim Pickett for posting it). Please do so, and stay tuned for additional actions you can take in support:
On Friday, March 21, 2025, the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV Interventions (ATN) was terminated. The entire research network. The termination letter, effective immediately, used the following language (many grants have seen) that “research programs based primarily on artificial and non-scientific categories, including amorphous equity objectives, are antithetical to the scientific inquiry, do nothing to expand our knowledge of living systems, provide low returns on investment, and ultimately do not enhance health, lengthen life, or reduce illness”.
Let’s set the record straight. The ATN began in 2001 as the only adolescent-focused HIV network for youth ages 13-24 in the United States. Since 2001, the network has had more than 30,000 enrollments across over 150 studies. Our studies have led to the availability of new biomedical tools and treatment approaches, nationally implemented testing and prevention strategies, and foundational data that informs product licensing, clinical guidelines, public health practice, and federal programming. The ATN tackles difficult and pressing health challenges for youth, including the ongoing HIV epidemic, rising STI incidence, and soaring rates of mental health and substance use disorders.
The ATN is not a DEI initiative and does not use arbitrary categories for our research. The ATN responds directly to disease burden, healthcare gaps, and population-level health threats using epidemiological data from all adolescents and young adults in the US.
Sybil Hosek and I have been involved in ATN for over 20 years and are proud to lead it currently, yet countless others have dedicated their careers to supporting its scientific mission. The ATN represents decades of sustained, collaborative infrastructure for research on adolescent health. Terminating this award dissolves a network that spans 24 years of scientific inquiry, 20 U.S. states and territories and hundreds of active collaborators, staff, youth, and community partners resulting in layoffs, stalled careers, and a reduced workforce in HIV research and clinical care.
We want to make this very clear: US investments in ATN have led to life-saving treatments, prevention tools like PrEP, and cutting-edge digital health solutions. The ATN fulfills the highest goals of science by advancing knowledge, addressing real and urgent health needs, delivering value to taxpayers, and saving lives of American youth.
Please stand with us as we appeal this short-sighted and hopefully misdirected attack on our beloved network.