HIV MEDICAL PIONEER RESIGNS TO FOCUS ON ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Dr. Donald Abrams Will Be Looking Into Cancer Treatments....

Dr. Donald Abrams spent his last day seeing patients at San Francisco
General Hospital's famed HIV clinic Tuesday after 23 years at the
forefront of AIDS research and clinical care.

Abrams, 56, is leaving his HIV practice to begin a new role as head
of a complementary medicine program at UCSF, where the focus is on
alternative treatments for cancer. He and colleagues, led by Dr. Paul
Volberding, founded the pioneering San Francisco General HIV clinic,
one of the first outpatient programs in the country to take on the
AIDS epidemic.

Abrams also is stepping down from the helm of a Bay Area clinical
research network of about 200 local HIV/AIDS practitioners, known as
the Community Consortium.

He spent Tuesday afternoon in his last seven HIV clinic appointments,
saying goodbye to patients he has been treating for years, including
one person Abrams has been seeing for nearly two decades.

The stability of the caseload, due mostly to the advent of effective
antiviral drugs, marks a big change from the epidemic's early days
when doctors had little to offer besides palliative care and lots of
hand-holding.

"I'm very happy for my patients now," Abrams said. "HIV has become so
much more of a chronic manageable disease. It used to be just one
person dying after another."

The payoff in life expectancy brought a new set of challenges, which
led innovators in the AIDS clinics toward some new medical frontiers.
Abrams, for instance, gained notoriety for his recent studies of
medical marijuana, used by some AIDS patients to control nerve pain.

But he said his long tenure, along with the transformation of HIV
care, also led him to seek other projects.

"Doing anything for 23 years is a long time," he said. "In the
beginning, we had the urgency of the problem, the mystery of the
disease, and it was all very exciting and stimulating. That sparkle
became a little diminished for me."

In 2004, he completed a fellowship at the University of Arizona
Program in Integrative Medicine, directed by Dr. Andrew Weil. Abrams
said he decided he was ready to switch full-time to the alternative
medicine field when he returned to UCSF.

He now becomes director of clinical programs at the Osher Center of
Integrative Medicine, replacing Dr. Sylver Quevedo, who left UCSF to
head the integrative medicine department at Duke University. Abrams
will continue to serve as head of the hematology/oncology division at
General, but no longer will take care of people with HIV unless they
also need cancer care.

Colleagues said it was a logical change, noting Abrams' long interest
in expanding the medical armamentarium.

"It's a great career move for him," Volberding said. "This has been a
passion of his for many years."

Abrams now gets to conduct investigations and advise patients on such
matters as the healing powers of spirituality -- one of many
alternative-medicine topics still capable of raising eyebrows along
with hopes. Abrams said the move away from the HIV clinic was not a
tough choice.

"It's a natural evolution of my career," he said.