About Us
An estimated 2.4 million people in the U.S. are living with Hepatitis C infection.
Making data on the viral hepatitis epidemic widely available, easily accessible, and locally relevant to inform public health decision making.
HepVu is an online platform that visualizes data and disseminates insights on the viral hepatitis epidemic across the U.S. HepVu’s mission is to make data widely available, easily accessible, and locally relevant to inform public health decision-making. HepVu is a Powered By AIDSVu project presented by the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in partnership with Gilead Sciences, Inc.
Limited data is one of the most critical gaps in our national response to viral hepatitis. Though deaths associated with Hepatitis C continue to surpass the total combined number of deaths from 60 other reportable infectious diseases – including HIV, pneumococcal disease, and tuberculosis – the public health surveillance system for Hepatitis C is not as robust or extensive as it is for other infectious diseases like HIV. This makes it challenging to understand the scope of the Hepatitis C epidemic in the U.S. and develop tailored strategies to improve access to screening, treatment, and prevention services.
In January 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its Viral Hepatitis National Strategic Plan: A Roadmap to Elimination 2021-2025. The plan outlines objectives and strategies to aid stakeholders—researchers, policy makers, health care providers, advocacy groups, and patients—in working together to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat in the U.S.
To help address this challenge, HepVu visualizes data related to the Hepatitis C epidemic in the U.S., including:
Standardized, state-level estimates of people living with Hepatitis C infection and Hepatitis C-related mortality, stratified by sex, age, and race. HepVu also has more granular Hepatitis C-related mortality data and maps at the county-level.
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HepVu serves as a central hub of information about the impact of the opioid epidemic on Hepatitis C and maps county-level rates of opioid prescriptions and rates of overdose mortality, as well as state-level rates of opioid prescriptions, percent of pain reliever misuse, and rates of overdose mortality.
Learn MoreThe state-level Hepatitis C prevalence estimates on HepVu were derived from the Emory University CAMP project with researchers from the University of Albany and support from CDC. Findings were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open in the paper, “Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Infection, US States and District of Columbia, 2013 – 2016.”
Building on this methodology, the state-level stratifications of Hepatitis C prevalence by sex, age, and race were developed by researchers at Georgia State University, Emory University, CDC, and the University at Albany and published in Hepatology Communications in the paper, “Hepatitis C virus prevalence in 50 U.S. states and D.C. by sex, birth cohort, and race: 2013–2016.”
The county-level Hepatitis C-related mortality data were published in Hall et al.’s article in Hepatology titled “County-Level Variation in Hepatitis C Virus Mortality and Trends in the United States, 2005-2017,” and then released on HepVu in February 2021. Findings were developed by researchers at Emory University with researchers from Georgia State University, the University at Albany, and CDC.
HepVu’s county-level opioid prescription and overdose mortality rates data were originally calculated in a study published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
HepVu and AIDSVu receive ongoing support and guidance from three groups consisting of key stakeholders and experts:
- Advisory Committee
- Technical Advisory Group
- Prevention and Treatment Advisory Committee.
The development of HepVu was guided by the following group of viral hepatitis experts:
Principle Scientist
Patrick Sullivan, DVM, PhD
Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
HepVu Co-Chair
Ronald Valdiserri, MD, MPH
Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
HepVu Project Director
Heather Bradley, PhD
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Georgia State University
Richard Garfein, Ph.D., MPH, Professor in the Division of Global Public Health, Department of Medicine at UCSD
Timothy M. Block, Professor, Co‐Founder and President, Hepatitis B Foundation and Baruch S. Blumberg Institute
Dawn Fishbein, MD, Scientific Director, Viral Hepatitis Research, MedStar Health Research Institute
Jim Galbraith, MD, Associate Professor, UAB Emergency Medicine Department
Charles Howell, MD, Chair of Medicine, Howard University Hospital
Gregorio Millett, MPH, Vice President and Director, Public Policy, amfAR
Shauna Onofrey, MPH, Epidemiologist, Massachusetts Department of Health
Alexandra Shirreffs, Viral Hepatitis Prevention Coordinator, Philadelphia Health Department
John Ward, MD, Director, Program for Viral Hepatitis Elimination, The Task Force for Global Health, Former Director of the Division of Viral Hepatitis at CDC
Advisory Committee
Gregg Alton, Former Chief Patient Officer, Gilead Sciences, Inc
James Curran, MD, Dean, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Guillermo Chacon, President, Latino Commission on AIDS
Chari Cohen, DrPH, MPH, President of Hepatitis B Foundation
Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH, Director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, CDC
Carlos del Rio, MD, Hubert Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health at the Rollins School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine, co-Director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research (CFAR)
Carl Dieffenbach, PhD, Director, Division of AIDS (DAIDS), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
Judith Feinberg, MD, Professor, Behavioral Medicine & Psychiatry, WVU School of Medicine
Evelyn Foust, MPH, CPM, Branch Head, Communicable Diseases, North Carolina Division of Public Health
Kevin Frost, Chief Executive Officer, amfAR
Christy Ross, Director of Health and Wellbeing, NAACP
Jennifer Kates, PhD, Vice President and Director of Global Health & HIV Policy, Kaiser Family Foundation
Stephen Lee, MD, Executive Director, NASTAD
Marsha Martin, DSW, Prior Director, Urban Coalition for HIV/AIDS Prevention Services
Henry Masur, MD, Chief, Critical Care Medicine Department, NIH Clinical Center
Jesse Milan, Jr., JD, President and CEO, AIDS United
Gregorio Millett, MPH, Vice President and Director, Public Policy, amFAR
Michael Mugavero, MD, MHSc, Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Medicine
Stacey Trooskin, MD, PhD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer of Philadelphia FIGHT Community Health Centers and Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania
Michael Ninburg, Executive Director Emeritus, Hepatitis Education Project
Rekha Ramesh, Executive Director, Head of Public Policy, Gilead Sciences
Ron Valdiserri, MD, MPH, Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Su Wang, MD, MPH, Medical Director for Center for Asian Health & Viral Hepatitis Programs at Saint Barnabas Medical Center and President of World Hepatitis Alliance
Carolyn Wester, MD, MPH, Director, Division of Viral Hepatitis, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, CDC
Technical Advisory
Kathleen Brady, MD, PhD, Director of HIV Epidemiology for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health
Natalie Cramer, Senior Director, Prevention, Health Care Access, and Policy, National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors
Stacy Cohen, MPH, Chief – Evaluation, Analysis, and Dissemination Branch, Division of Policy and Data, HIV/AIDS Bureau, HRSA
Virginia Takeuchi, Supervising Epidemiologist, HIV Surveillance, Division of HIV/STD Programs, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
Jeff Lauritsen, HIV/AIDS Epidemiologist, City of Chicago Department of Public Health
Eve Mokotoff, Managing Director, HIV Counts, LLC
Anna Satcher-Johnson, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, HIV Incidence and Case Surveillance Branch
Debbie Wendell, PhD, MPH, Data Management & Analysis Program Manager, STD/HIV Program, Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Public Health
Lorene Maddox, Analysis Manager, HIV/AIDS Section, Bureau of Communicable Diseases Florida Department of Health
Prevention and Treatment Advisory Committee
Jacob Dougherty, HIV Prevention Coordinator, Wisconsin Department of Health Services, HIV Program
Pascale Wortley, MD, MPH, HIV Epidemiology Section Chief at the Georgia Department of Public Health
Margaret Vaaler, PhD, Epidemiology and Supplemental Projects Group Manager, TB/HIV/STD Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch Texas Department of State Services
