TY - JOUR T1 - Interview with Peter Piot JF - Sexually Transmitted Infections JO - Sex Transm Infect SP - 436 LP - 440 DO - 10.1136/sti.2007.028100 VL - 83 IS - 6 AU - Marc Vandenbruaene Y1 - 2007/10/01 UR - http://sti.bmj.com/content/83/6/436.abstract N2 - See linked editorial, p 425 This interview was conducted during the 17th ISSTDR and 10th IUSTI World Congress held in Seattle, Washington, 29 July to 1 August 2007. Peter Piot gave the opening plenary presentation, "STIs and HIV: learning from each other for a long-term response".1–3 Peter Piot—Executive Director of UNAIDS Peter Piot is Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations. Peter Piot trained in medicine and microbiology at the Universities of Ghent and Antwerp, Belgium and the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. Soon after graduating from medical school, he co-discovered the Ebola virus in 1976, while working at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. Since the very first reports on AIDS, he has been a key player in the field of HIV. In the early 1980s, Peter Piot launched research projects in Africa (Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Tanzania and Zaïre, now Democratic Republic of Congo). Projet SIDA in Kinshasa, Zaïre, was the first international project on AIDS in Africa and provided the foundations of our current understanding of HIV infection in Africa. In 1992, Dr Piot joined the Global Programme on AIDS of the World Health Organization as Associate Director. Since the creation of UNAIDS in 1995, Peter Piot has been drawing his skills as scientist, manager and activist, focusing on AIDS and on women’s health in developing countries. Under his leadership, UNAIDS has become the chief advocate for worldwide action against AIDS. This interview was conducted during the 17th ISSTDR and 10th IUSTI World Congress held in Seattle, Washington, 29 July to 1 August 2007 (fig 1).1 Peter Piot gave the opening plenary talk, “STIs and HIV: learning from each other for a long term response”.2 Figure 1  Peter Piot giving the opening … ER -