Ronald Baker, PhD, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief    

Ronald Baker is the founder of HIV and Hepatitis.com and currently serves as  publisher and editor-in-chief of the web site. With more than 15 years experience in publishing, community education, and HIV treatment advocacy, Dr. Baker has written and edited more than 500 articles on HIV/AIDS treatment research and treatment advocacy issues. He is a Fulbright Scholar (University of Berlin) who earned his PhD at Harvard University as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. Dr. Baker is the founding Director of Treatment Education and Advocacy at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. e-mail.

Brian Boyle, MD, Medical Editor

Associate Professor, Weill Medical College of Cornell University (Courtesy)
Associate Director, Viral-Ed LLC
Medical Editor, HIVandHepatitis.com
Board of Directors, International Center for Equal Healthcare Access

Liz Highleyman,  Senior Staff Writer

Liz Highleyman is a freelance medical writer and editor who has covered HIV/AIDS and hepatitis for more than 10 years. She has written for publications including Aidsmap, HCV Advocate, POZ, and The Well Project. She is a former editor of the Bulletin of Experimental Treatments for AIDS (BETA), published by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and former health editor for Ask Jeeves (www.ask.com). She is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the American Medical Writers Association. She has a degree from the Harvard School of Public Health and is a certified Emergency Medical Technician.

Graeme Moyle, MD, Contributing Editor

Mack Mitchell, MD, Contributing Editor

Editorial Inquires

We encourage contribution of articles covering medical or personal aspects of HIV or viral hepatitis. We reserve the right to edit or decline submitted articles.

When published, the articles become the property of HIV and Hepatitis.com. You may use your actual name or a pseudonym for publication, but please include your actual name and phone number for verification.

Contact Ron Baker regarding editorial submissions at, fax (415) 550-0600, e-mail: ronbaker@hivandhepatitis.com. HIV and Hepatitis.com cannot guarantee the return of unsolicited manuscripts. 

Press releases and media materials should be e-mailed or faxed to Ronald Baker at (415) 550-0600. 


Mission Statement of HIV and Hepatitis.com

Our common objective is to create a quality online publication that provides accurate, timely and cutting-edge information about treatment for HIV/AIDS, chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and co-infection with HIV/HCV and HIV/HBV.

The goals of HIV and Hepatitis.com are:   
To improve quality of life;
To slow disease progression; and
To increase survival time among the hundreds of millions of people living with HIV/AIDS, chronic hepatitis B or hepatitis C, or co-infection with these viruses.

Copyright

HIV and Hepatitis.com is an open access website. HIV and Hepatitis.com should be noted as the source of any material reproduced from the website. If another entity is cited on HIV and Hepatitis.com as the source or reference, it should also be cited with the reproduction of the material.

Information posted on the site may be used for personal, scientific or informational purposes, but NOT for commercial reproduction. 

Disclaimer - TERMS AND CONDITIONS                                      

This Company Internet Web Site Agreement (the "Agreement") is between you and HIV AND HEPATITIS TREATMENT ADVOCATES, INC. ("Company"), a California corporation.  Use of the “HIVandHepaitis.com” web site (“HIV and Hepatitis.com") signifies your agreement to the terms and conditions of use set forth below in the Agreement:

You acknowledge that you have read the terms and conditions of use stated below and that you accept the terms thereof.  YOU AGREE TO READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM.  If you do not agree to these terms and conditions of use, you may not access or otherwise use HIV and Hepatitis.com.

Company may monitor your use of HIV and Hepatitis.com, and may freely use and disclose any information and materials received from you or collected through your use of HIV and Hepatitis.com for any lawful reason or purpose.

HIV and Hepatitis.com is an informational resource that is intended for educational purposes only.  The information provided on HIV and Hepatitis.com is NOT intended to, and cannot, serve as a substitute for the individual, personal, face-to-face professional medical advice of a licensed provider with training and expertise in the subject matter to which the information pertains and with knowledge of a patient’s specific medical history.  HIV and Hepatitis.com recommends that ALL medical treatments or products be discussed thoroughly and frankly in person with a licensed and fully informed medical practitioner.  It is a patient’s individual responsibility to obtain information regarding a medical diagnosis, treatment, referral, drug availability, or pricing directly from his or her licensed physician, or from a product's manufacturer.

The editors, staff, and affiliates of HIV and Hepatitis.com take great care to provide accurate and timely information.  It is possible, however, that HIV and Hepatitis.com could include inaccuracies or errors, and that unauthorized additions, deletions and alterations could be made to HIV and Hepatitis.com by third parties.  In the event that you believe that an inaccuracy has arisen, please immediately inform the webmaster of HIV and Hepatitis.com so that the content can be reviewed for accuracy. 

Company may change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of the HIV and Hepatitis.com at any time, including the availability of any HIV and Hepatitis.com feature, database, or Content.  Company may also impose limits on certain features and services or restrict your access to parts or all of the HIV and Hepatitis.com without notice or liability.

HIV and Hepatitis.com may contain forums, informational chat rooms, or other areas to which you might be invited and/or permitted to transmit, upload or post, information, inquiries, or materials.  You represent, warrant and covenant that: (a) you shall not upload, post, transmit or distribute, or otherwise publish through HIV and Hepatitis.com any materials which (i) restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying HIV and Hepatitis.com, (ii) are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, offensive, pornographic, profane, sexually explicit or indecent, (iii) constitute or encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate the law, (iv) violate, plagiarize or infringe the rights of third parties including, without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, rights of privacy or publicity or any other proprietary right, (v) contain a virus or other harmful component, (vi) contain any information, software or other material of a commercial nature, (vii) contain advertising of any kind, or (viii) constitute or contain false or misleading indications of origin or statements of fact; and (b) that you are at least eighteen (18) years old.  Company has no obligation to monitor the information or materials transmitted, posted, or uploaded by you to HIV and Hepatitis.com.  However, Company reserves the right to refuse to post or to remove any such information or materials, in whole or part, that, in its sole discretion, are unacceptable or in violation of this Agreement.

You hereby agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Company, and all its officers, directors, owners, agents, employees, information providers, affiliates, licensors and licensees (collectively, the "Indemnified Parties") from and against any and all liability and costs incurred by the Indemnified Parties in connection with any claim arising out of any breach by you of the Agreement or the foregoing representations, warranties and covenants, including, without limitation, attorneys' fees and costs.  You shall cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any claim.  Company reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you and you shall not in any event settle any matter without the written consent of Company.

You acknowledge that, except as may be expressly provided on HIV and Hepatitis.com and/or in this Agreement, transmissions to and from HIV and Hepatitis.com are not confidential and your Communications may be read or intercepted by others.  You acknowledge that by submitting Communications to Company, no confidential, fiduciary, contractually implied or other relationship is created between you and Company other than pursuant to this Agreement.

By posting messages, uploading files, or inputting data to forums, chat rooms, bulletin boards, and/or other public areas of HIV and Hepatitis.com (individually or collectively "Communications") to HIV and Hepatitis.com, you hereby grant to Company a perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, unrestricted, non-exclusive, royalty free license to use, copy, license, sublicense, adapt, distribute, display, publicly perform, reproduce, transmit, modify, edit and otherwise exploit such Communications, in all media now known or hereafter developed.  You hereby waive all rights to any claim against Company for any alleged or actual infringements of any proprietary rights, rights of privacy and publicity, moral rights, and rights of attribution in connection with such Communications.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, your electronic mail communications with the Webmaster, and any information provided by you through on-line survey forms on HIV and Hepatitis.com, will in most cases, be viewed only by you, the Webmaster, and anyone to whom you address such communications.  When reasonably practicable, Company will attempt to preserve the confidentiality of such communications.

HIV and Hepatitis.com may contain links and pointers to other related World Wide Web Internet sites, resources, and sponsors of HIV and Hepatitis.com.  Links to and from HIV and Hepatitis.com to other third party sites, maintained by third parties, do not constitute an endorsement by Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates of any third party entities, resources, products, or the contents of their sites.

Company does not and cannot review all materials posted to HIV and Hepatitis.com by users, and Company is not responsible for any such materials posted by users.  However, Company reserves the right at all times to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any law, regulation or government request, or to edit, refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, that in Company's sole discretion are objectionable or in violation of this Agreement.

HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM, INCLUDING, CONTENT, FUNCTIONS, MATERIALS AND INFORMATION MADE AVAILABLE ON OR ACCESSED THROUGH HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM, IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS.  YOUR USE OF THAT INFORMATION IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.  YOU ASSUME TOTAL RESPONSIBILITY AND RISK FOR YOUR USE OF THAT INFORMATION.  IT IS SOLELY YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO EVALUATE THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, USEFULNESS OR VALIDITY OF THAT INFORMATION.  TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE BY LAW, COMPANY, ITS AFFILIATES, EMPLOYEES, SERVICE PROVIDERS, EDITORS, AND/OR CONTRIBUTING WRITERS, MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH REGARD TO:  (A) HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM; (B) ANY INFORMATION PRESENTED OR DISPLAYED ON HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM; (C) ANY HYPERTEXT LINKS TO THIRD PARTIES PROVIDED ON HIV AND HEPITIS.COM; (D) ANY SERVICE OR TREATMENT PROVIDED THROUGH HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM; (E) ANY BREACH OF SECURITY ASSOCIATED WITH THE TRANSMISSION OF SENSITIVE INFORMATION HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM OR ANY LINKED SITE;  AND/OR (F) THE ACCURACY, QUALITY, COMPLETENESS, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OF ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIALS PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM.  TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE BY LAW, COMPANY HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  

COMPANY DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM OR ANY MATERIALS OR CONTENT CONTAINED THEREIN WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED AND/OR ERROR FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE IS FREE OF VIRUSES AND/OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.  COMPANY AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES AND AFFILIATES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR THE USE OF THE  HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM , INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE CONTENT AND ANY ERRORS CONTAINED THEREIN.

NEITHER HIV AND HEPATITIS TREATMENT ADVOCATES, INC., NOR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES, EMPLOYEES, SERVICE PROVIDERS, EDITORS, AND/OR CONTRIBUTING WRITERS, SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTIES UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES OR LOSSES WHICH YOU MAY INCUR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM AND/OR ANY INFORMATION PRESENTED ON HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM, OR ANY OF THE DATA OR OTHER MATERIALS TRANSMITTED THROUGH OR RESIDING ON HIV AND HEPATITIS.COM, REGARDLESS OF THE TYPE OF CLAIM OR THE NATURE OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION, EVEN IF COMPANY, HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE OR LOSS.  THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL NOT APPLY TO LIABILITY FOR DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY TO THE EXTENT APPLICABLE LAW PROHIBITS SUCH LIMITATION.

Company, its staff, contributing writers and editors, and HIV and Hepatitis.com retain and exercise full control over the planning and implementation of the content of the web site. The commercial or non-profit companies and organizations whose logos appear on the web site have no influence on the editorial content of HIV and Hepatitis.com. The appearance of logos does not imply an endorsement of any company or organization or its products by Company, HIV and Hepatitis.com, its publisher, editors, contributing writers, employees, or contractors.

This Agreement is entered into in the State of California and shall be governed by and construed in accordance with California law, exclusive of California’s choice of law rules.  Each party to this Agreement submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts sitting in the County of San Francisco in the State of California, and waives any jurisdictional, venue, or inconvenient forum objections to such courts.

In the event that any of the provisions of this Agreement are held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, such provisions shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that this Agreement shall otherwise remain in full force and effect.

This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties hereto pertaining to the subject matter hereof, and any and all written or oral agreements heretofore existing between the parties hereto are expressly canceled. Company may modify the terms of this Agreement by posting notice of such modification on a page of HIV and Hepatitis.com entitled "Legal Notices" or "Legal Information" (or similar title) before the modification takes effect.

HIV and Hepatitis.com is published by HIV and Hepatitis Treatment Advocates, Inc.  

© 2009, HIV and Hepatitis.com.  All rights reserved.

THE DOCTOR IS IN

As stated in the Terms and Conditions of HIV and Hepatitis.com, HIV and Hepatitis.com is an information resource that is intended for educational purposes only. The information provided on HIV and Hepatitis.com, including any information provided The Doctor Is In, is NOT intended to, and cannot, serve as a substitute for the individual, personal, face-to-face professional media advice of a licensed provider with training and expertise in the subject matter to which the information pertains and with knowledge of a patients specific medical history. HIV and Hepatitis.com recommends that ALL medical treatments or products be discussed thoroughly and frankly in person with a licensed and fully informed medical practitioner. It is a patient's individual responsibility to obtain information regarding a medical diagnosis, treatment, referral, drug availability, or pricing directly from his or her licensed physician, or from a product's manufacturer.

The posting of any messages and/or data to The Doctor Is In is subject to the Terms and Conditions of HIV and Hepatitis.com. Any message and/or data that you post, as well as any response to that message and /or data, will be available to each visitor of The Doctor Is In. As with other messages and/or data posted to the forums maintained by HIV and Hepatitis.com, HIV and Hepatitis.com will not be able to maintain the privacy of such messages and /or data. For the foregoing reasons, please do not post any information to The Doctor Is In that you might wish to keep confidential.