Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV: The Final Frontier?

Karen Palmore Beckerman, MD
Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology, College of Physicians & Surgeons
Senior Research Director, ICAP at Columbia, Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University, New York, NY



CME VIDEOTop of page

About the Presenter: Top of page

Karen Palmore Beckerman has been working in the Bronx for the past twelve years caring for pregnant women with HIV and AIDS, as Director of High Risk Obstetrics at Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center and also as medical director of the Positive Perinatal Health Program in the hospital’s Center for Comprehensive Care. From 1994-2001 she was the Director of the Bay Area Perinatal AIDS Center at San Francisco General Hospital. In 1998, at the International AIDS Society Congress in Geneva, she and her team were the first to report the absence of mother to child transmission among 52 women living with HIV and AIDS who were monitored with viral load testing and treated with protease inhibitors during pregnancy. Dr Beckerman has been a member of the Antiretroviral Pregnancy Registry since 1999 and the Editorial Board of JAIDS and other journals, as well as review panels and data safety monitoring boards at the National Institutes of Health. She has lectured widely on preconception care, use of medications in pregnancy, and the safety and benefits of maternal antiretroviral therapy.

Learning Objectives: Top of page

At the completion of this educational session, learners will:
  • Know the weak points in current strategies to prevent pediatric AIDS.
  • Be able to identify women at risk of acquiring HIV during the third trimester and breastfeeding.
  • Understand the indications, risks and benefits of pre & post-exposure HIV transmission prophylaxis before, during and after pregnancy.
  • Appreciate the importance of Family Planning and planning a family among HIV-affected couples in both resource-rich and resource-constrained settings.

CME InformationTop of page


This CME activity was approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ on June 26, 2018 and will terminate June 25, 2021.

The target audience is all physicians, NPs and PAs involved or interested in HIV education.

This online video and post-activity evaluation are one hour in length.
  • After you complete the video portion of this educational activity there will be a post-activity evaluation and quiz.
  • You must achieve at least 70% correct to receive your CME certificate.
  • If successful, you will be provided instructions to print your CME certificate at the completion of this activity.
  • Accreditation Statement: Top of page


    This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) and the Physicians’ Research Network (PRN). MSSNY is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

    The Medical Society of the State of New York designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with extent of their participation in the activity.

    Disclosure Statement: Top of page


    Policies and standards of MSSNY require that speakers and planners for CME activities disclose any relevant financial relationships they may have with commercial interests whose products, devices or services may be discussed in the content of a CME activity.
  • Dr. James Braun (Planner/Course Director) had no relevant financial relationships to disclose.
  • Dr. Karen Palmore Beckerman (Presenter) has no relevant financial relationships to disclose. Dr. Karen Palmore Beckerman submitted her slides in advance for adequate peer review, and will support her presentation and clinical recommendations with the best available evidence from the medical literature.
  • Financial Support: Top of page

    This PRN CME activity is funded in part by unrestricted educational grants from: Gilead Sciences; Janssen Therapeutics, a division of Janssen Products, LP; and Merck & Co.

    How to Obtain CME Credit: Top of page

    To obtain CME credit for this PRN program, please visit the PRN Courses Page at the Clinical Education Initiative (CEI) web site. PRN and the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) jointly sponsor PRN enduring materials for CME, and provide them at no cost to the AIDS Institute of the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) for broadcast through the CEI. We thank the NYSDOH for making our CME programs available to a wider audience, and hope you will also browse the many other educational opportunities offered by the CEI.

    You must be logged in to post a comment. Login | Register