COVID in Winter: What to Expect and New Ideas

Ofole is a physician advocate for communities of color and the LGBTQ community, particularly those living with HIV. I am an internal medicine doctor and infectious disease specialist. He has held multiple leadership positions during medical school and internal medicine residency. I have a long track record of community service and volunteer work focused on justice in healthcare and vulnerable communities. My career is devoted to speaking directly to the impact of racism and homophobia in healthcare, and addressing healthcare disparities. Ofole completed his residency at NYU Langone Health. He earned his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

Harry is a board-certified internal medicine physician and the CEO of Roster, a tech-enabled healthcare company assisting organizations’ transition to value-based care by redefining the ways in which care is delivered for high-risk, high-need patients.

Prior to Roster, Harry served as the Medical Director for Network Integration and Ambulatory Quality at NYU Langone Health. In this role, he led NYULH’s ambulatory quality program for over 2,000 physicians across more than 200 sites consisting of an Academic-based Faculty Group Practice as well as a Network of Federally Qualified Health Centers.

He was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, and received an Economics Degree from The University of Georgia. He then returned to his native Alabama where he received his medical degree from The University of Alabama – Birmingham before moving to New York where he completed his residency training in internal medicine at NYU School of Medicine and subsequently served as a Chief Resident. His work has been published in JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, and the Journal of General Internal Medicine among others.

Dr. Saag received a B.S. in chemistry with honors in 1977 Tulane University, earned his medical degree with honors from the University of Louisville, and completed his residency and infectious disease and molecular virology fellowship training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. During the last 6 months of his fellowship, Dr. Saag conceived the concept of a comprehensive HIV outpatient (1917) clinic dedicated to the provision of interdisciplinary patient care in conjunction with the conduct of high quality clinical trials, translational science, and clinical outcomes research.  Within the clinic structure, he established a clinical trials unit, a data management center, and a Clinical Specimen Repository designed to support the activities of the newly established Center for AIDS Research at UAB.  In essence, the clinic became a “hub” for the clinical, basic science, and behavioral science investigators within the Center by creating a dynamic interface between the patients and the investigators. Dr. Saag has participated in many studies of antiretroviral therapy as well as novel treatments for opportunistic infections.  He has published over 450 articles in peer reviewed journals, including the first description of the use of viral load in clinical practice (Science, 1993), the first description of the rapid dynamics of viral replication (Nature, 1995), the first guidelines for use of viral load in practice (Nature Medicine, 1996), the first proof of concept of fusion inhibition as a therapeutic option (Nature Medicine, 1998), and directed the ‘first-in- patient’ studies of 7 of the 30 antiretroviral drugs currently on the market.  Dr. Saag Co-Edited a textbook entitled AIDS Therapy  (now in its 3rd edition) and currently serves as an Editor of the Sanford Guide for Antimicrobial Agents and the Sanford HIV Guide.  Dr. Saag serves on the International AIDS Society-USA Board of Directors, is a Past-President of the HIV Medical Association, is Chair of the IAS-USA Antiretroviral Therapy Guidelines panel, was a founding Co-Chair of the AASLD / IDSA  Hepatitis C Guidelines Panel, and a past-member of the HHS Guidelines Panel on Antiretroviral Therapy and the WHO Antiretroviral Therapy Guidelines panel. In 2014, he was the Castle-Connolly National Physician of the Year and was inducted into the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame. An accomplished teacher, Dr. Saag has been awarded Argus awards annually by the UAB medical students as Best Lecturer in the Patient, Doctor, and Society module.  Dr. Saag recently published a memoir entitled “Positive: One doctor’s encounters with death, life, and the US Healthcare system,” now in its second printing.