In support of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's mission to provide cutting-edge medicine and advocacy, regardless of ability to pay, the CME program provides physicians, nurses and technical support personnel who are employed or affiliated within the delivery system, the medical knowledge base for delivering that health care. Through regularly scheduled medical conferences and seminars in all states in which AHF provides services, practicing physicians, including Internists, Family Physicians, Infectious Disease specialists and their associates, are kept informed of demographic trends, diagnostic tools, current therapies and social services designed to address the health needs of HIV-infected citizens of all ages.

In response to contract mandates with federal and state agencies, physicians and case managers are educated and directed to locate and manage patients who may have limited access to private physicians, hospitals or insurance and managed care services. The expected results of this education and outreach are: firstly, the provision of immediate and long term care to an increasing number of persons living with HIV infection and, secondly, the reduction of costs associated with providing that care, as appropriate management of the disease reduces the incidence of opportunistic infections and hospital admissions. Statistics defining the outcome of these endeavors are regularly collected and reported, forming the basis for educational needs definition among the involved professionals.

Continuing Medical Education (CME) Committee:

Dr. Chen is a southern California native who attended Caltech for his undergraduate. There he pursued his interest in molecular biology and participated in multiple Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Projects including engineering enzyme activity in non-aqueous organic solvents employing PCR mutagenesis, MRI coil probe design as well as computer modeling of neuronal activity. He then attended the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, and later completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Los Angeles County and USC Medical Center. Pursuing his life long interest in the care for the elderly, he continued his training as a Geriatric Fellow with the Department of Geriatric and General Internal Medicine at the LAC & USC Medical Center.

In 2004 Dr. Chen joined the USC Dept. of Hospital, Geriatric and General Internal Medicine as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine. In addition to treating patients in University private practice settings of the Health Consultation Center 2 and University Hospital, he continued to participate in the care of the uninsured at the LA County and USC General Hospital in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. Through these activities, Dr. Chen trained medical students, interns, residents and fellows in the practice of internal and geriatric medicine. Furthermore, he was the director of the USC Physician Home Visit Program. The Physician Home Visit Program had existed at USC for more then a decade and was intended for homebound seniors to receive specialized geriatric care in the comfort of their own home. Under Dr. Chen's directorship, he expanded the home visit model to include longitudinal primary care, post-hospital transition of care as well as ad hoc visits to address specific geriatric syndromes effecting access to care. Under his leadership, the Home Visit Program served hundreds of patients all over La County and he developed a specialized network of home care ancillary services that enabled seniors to live independently.

Dr. Chen was also a speaker for the Alzheimer's Association, and enjoyed his role in increasing community awareness about the identification and treatment of dementia. In 2005 he was a consultant for a national hospice company as well as a Medical Director for a LA based home health agency. Since 2005, Dr. Chen has also been a expert medical reviewer for the California Medical Board. In 2007, he participated in the USC in-Step Study as a Physician reviewing research subjects for fall risks. In 2011, he served on the Medicare Evidence Development and Advisory Committee.

In 2011 Dr. Chen joined the AIDS Healthcare Foundation as the Medical Director of Managed Care. In this role his responsibilities included oversight of the Dept. of Utilization & Case Management, Pharmacy Services, Plan Education of Members, DHSP Specialty Referral Program as well as the Quality Activities of the Medicare and Medicaid special needs health plans. In addition Dr. Chen has had increasing responsibilities in integrating the clinical operations of AHF and is exploring new opportunities within the Dept. of Medicine. Dr. Chen continues to work with AHF and enjoys supporting the Mission of AHF in both administrative and clinical capacities.

Dr. Church received his M.D. degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey at Newark, New Jersey.  He was trained in Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital National Medical Center, Washington D.C., and in Allergy and Immunology at Georgetown University Medical Center.  In 1977, he was board certified in Pediatrics and in Allergy and Immunology; the American Board of Allergy and Immunology is a conjoint board of the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Internal Medicine.  Since joining the staff at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles in 1976, Dr. Church has focused his interest on children and adults with immune deficiency disorders.

Donna Stidham, RN
Los Angeles HIV Intercity Rounds

Donna Stidham, RN is the Chief of Managed Care for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. She has been involved in the care of persons with HIV disease since the first cases were identified in 1981 and began her continuous career of working with what is known now as HIV/AIDS first as a nurse epidemiologist when the first cases of immune deficiency were reported to the Centers for Disease Control. She was instrumental in 1984 in the opening of the first AIDS inpatient unit in a for profit community hospital in the nation, and has continually focused her efforts in developing systems of care that support the expertise necessary to provide medical care to persons with HIV/AIDS. She joined AIDS Healthcare Foundation in 1994 to lend her expertise in health systems and managed care in order to assist in the development and implementation of the first capitated managed care program for persons with AIDS, AHF’s Positive Healthcare®™.