The Dallas VA Medical Center, a teaching facility for Southwestern Medical School, is a modern medical clinic facility that opened in November 1998. Located in a large urban area, is also serves 37 Texas and 2 Oklahoma counties. The mission of the medical center is to provide comprehensive health care to veterans, achieving excellence in clinical care, research, and education. In addition to 258 acute care beds, there is a transitional care unit, a long-term domiciliary program, and a large psychiatric facility. The Dallas VAMC research and development program expended $7,211,726 in FY 98, and has recently opened an inpatient clinical research unit (ICRU). Its laboratory is a reference laboratory for viral load, HIV genotypic resistance testing and CD4 testing.

HIV Program

The program has treated HIV-infected individuals since the mid-1980s.  It is a rapidly growing program, with patient volumes in the top 10-15% nationally. Over 500 patients are currently enrolled in the VA HIV clinic. The racial breakdown is 46% African American, 47% Caucasian, and 6% Hispanic. The patient population is about 2% female, 375 of the patients are gay or bisexual men, 23% are Heterosexual, and 12% are IV drug users.

The HIV team offers multidisciplinary inpatient and outpatient care for the management of HIV infection and its complications, as well as educational and psychosocial support for individuals, their significant others, and their families. Through expert care, our goal is to empower each patient to manage their HIV infection, and enjoy a healthy and productive life.

Over 80% of patients seen at our clinic and placed on antiretroviral therapy have achieved an undetectable viral load, and 86% have a CD4 count over 200 (the highest percentage in the national VA hospital system).  As a result, opportunistic infections are rarely observed.  The focus of our practice and research efforts is therefore increasingly on the prevention and management of chronic complications from antiretroviral therapy, HCV and HBV co-infection and HIV itself.

Finally, the HIV program has a close collaboration with the Pharmacy program of the Texas Tech University Health Science Center which has a branch within the VA campus.  The service offers education and training in HIV medicine to physicians and other health providers in the outpatient clinic setting, and administers outreach education to the community via seminars, video conferences, and an annual regional training seminar.