University physician Hannah Gay delivers SMBHC Spring Convocation Address in Oxford on Wednesday. Photo: Grant Beebe, The Daily Mississippian.
Dr. Hannah Gay, Ole Miss alumna and associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, delivered the 2014 Spring Honors Convocation Address Wednesday night at the Ford Center.
A graduate of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College’s predecessor, then called the University Scholars Program, Gay discussed the power Mississippi education and community ties have to affect change.
“People are realizing that we do have the ability to do things in Mississippi that they cannot do in many other sites,” Gay said of the success she has had in clinical interactions with both community members and the Mississippi Health Department.
Gay has recently received international attention — including being named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People — after it became known that she was responsible for the treatment that rendered a Mississippi infant infected with HIV functionally cured.
Her aggressive approach, utilizing three post-exposure prophylaxis drugs rather than one, defied the typical standard of care in 2010.
The infant received treatment for six weeks.
Believed to have been infected in-utero, the infant was born to a mother who did not receive proper prenatal care that might have easily prevented the spread of HIV.
In the course of labor, Gay said, attending physicians became aware that the mother was HIV positive and consulted Gay for treatment.
After a period of compliance in medicating the infant, the mother stopped treatment and did not visit Gay’s clinic.
Gay’s office requested that Child Protective Services find the mother and child to ensure the proper function of her immune system.
Upon the child’s return to Gay’s clinic, blood tests indicated an undetectable viral load.
Disbelieving the results, Gay performed secondary blood tests and consulted with other physicians specializing in pediatric disease management in order to confirm the diagnosis, similar to “remission.”
Although Gay notes that the “lay press has substituted ‘cure’ as the verb,” the patient is more accurately classified as functionally cured, or “without a tract of replication-competent virus.”
Three years old now, the patient remains free of a detectable viral load and is not currently receiving medication.
Gay visited the Conference on Retrovirals and Opportunist Infections in Atlanta following the confirmation of the patient’s unique case with the hopes of recovering from wedding planning and to present an abstract drafted with her treatment associates.
Media outlets, governments and non-profits alike began seeking Gay for interviews and speaking engagements.
Recalling the seemingly unending series of phone calls and press meetings, Gay spoke of her first interaction with the virus as a missionary physician serving those infected with HIV in Ethiopia.
“If anyone tested positive for HIV, they had a tendency to disappear into the night,” Gay said. “So we didn’t test for it.”
She did, however, treat patients that seemed to display symptoms, which was difficult without confirmation of infection.
Praising the efforts of physicians and healthcare workers in Mississippi, Gay reported that as a result of the close-knit communities characteristic of Mississippi, infant infection rates remain low where high enrollment and retention rates in clinical trials are possible.
“People in Mississippi are very appreciative of anything perceived as good coming out of Mississippi,” Gay said after reporting that Mississippi also has a much lower rate of infant HIV transmission than many other states, an unexpected figure given the prevalence of poverty.
The transmission rate from untreated women stands currently at less than 1.4 percent, and the rate from treated women at 0 percent, according to Gay.
Closing her remarks, Gay encouraged students to remember that progress involves asking questions.
“It is very, very good to know the limitations of your knowledge,” she said. “The most important thing to know is what you don’t know.”
Self-described as a woman of faith, Gay reminded students to consider their higher callings in life.
“Do the hard things that are put in your path,” she said.
Quoting Colossians 3:23, Gay reminded the audience that looking for cure is service to humankind.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for The Lord, not for man,” she said.
Sophomore English and business double major in the Honors College Hannah Hultman said that she enjoyed the convocation as an opportunity to consider the successes of Mississippi.
“I found the speech, as a whole, successful,” Hultman said. “However, I was most interested when she spoke about the role of Mississippi in the medical community. I almost wish that the entire speech was on that.”
Sophomore biology major Jesus Diaz said he appreciated the time Gay shared with the Ole Miss community as an opportunity to learn from another’s passions.
“I was inspired by Dr. Gay’s humility and the courage it took for her to speak in front of a large audience,” Diaz said. “I was also moved by her passion to help better lives in our community without expecting fame in return.
“The most valuable lesson I learned from this spring’s convocation is that wealth and fame don’t always come in pairs, and that those attributes are better enjoyed as a reward of practicing something one is passionate about.”
— Katelyn Miller
kamille3@go.olemiss.edu
