In the News

December 2024

Read the December 2024 Newsletter.

September 2024

Read the September 2024 Newsletter

August 2024

New Challenge for Doctors: Battling a Rare, Persistent Fungal Infection in the U.S.

Daniela Ibarra, CAPTC communications intern, interviewed CAPTC STI fellow, Wyatt Hanft, MD, MPH, about our response efforts to the first known U.S. case of Trichophyton mentagrophytes genotype VII (TMVII), a rare dermatophyte infection.

July 2024

Ina Park, MD, CAPTC’s Principal Investigator, published an opinion piece in the New York Times: How on Earth is there a Syphilis Epidemic in 2024?

June 2024

Read the June 2024 PRIDE Newsletter

May 2024

Read the May 2024 Newsletter

February 2024

2023 Impact Report

Check out our 2023 Impact Report to see how CAPTC continues its crucial work on the front lines of public health to reduce the rise in STIs, HIV, and emerging diseases; to make healthcare more equitable and inclusive; and to address structural barriers like racism, LGBTQ+ phobia, and more.

Read the February 2024 Newsletter

December 2023

World AIDs Day, Trainings, and CAPTC Updates

Read the latest updates in our December 2023 newsletter.

October 2023

#DISRecognitionDay

October 6 marked the 12th annual #DISRecognitionDay. We highlighted our Disease Intervention Specialists on Twitter to show our appreciation for the vital work they do at CAPTC.

August 2023

August 2023 Quarterly Newsletter

The Harm Reduction Conference, DoxyPEP, and Training the Next Generation: Read about it in our August 2023 newsletter.

May 2023

Kelly Johnson, MD, MPH, Takes on Leadership Role as CAPTC’s Medical Director

May 1, 2023

We are excited to introduce Kelly Johnson, MD, MPH, the new clinical director of the CAPTC.

May 2023 Quarterly Newsletter

Read about the DIS Summit, Mpox resources, and our new clinical director in the May 2023 newsletter.

February 2023

External Newsletter and Impact Report

February 2, 2023
Check out our February newsletter.

November 2022

CAPTC’s COVID-19 Response in Review

November 8, 2022
As our communities continue to grapple with the COVID-19 crisis, Denise Tafoya, Program Manager of the California Prevention Training Center’s Disease Intervention Specialist training program, provides an update on the impact of CAPTC’s contact tracing and case investigation efforts as they respond to the needs of the public health crisis.

May 2022

New Podcast Season, Upcoming Trainings, and #EndTheEpidemics

May 4, 2022
Our newest podcast season is out now! In addition, the Family PACT Program has a revamped resource library, and CAPTC participates in #EndTheEpidemics Week of Action. Read the latest in our May 2022 newsletter.

April 2022

Coming Together for Sexual Health

April 28, 2022
The California Prevention Training Center is excited to announce that Season 3 of our podcast Coming Together for Sexual Health (formerly known as Speaking Frankly: The State of Sexual Health) will be released on May 4th. Coming Together for Sexual Health is a series of conversations for health professionals that looks at the personal and structural issues that impact sexual health. Read our full press release.

January 2022

Meet Dana Cropper, training leader putting community first

January 4, 2022
In the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health‘s profile of CAPTC’s new director, Dana Cropper-Williams, read about Dana’s personal inspiration for the work she does, her goals for the future of public health, and the CAPTC’s widening role in stopping the spread of infectious diseases.

Happy New Year from the CAPTC!

January 1, 2022
An update on our STI Clinical Training program, new events and trainings: it’s all in our January 2022 newsletter.

November 2021

#InclusiveCare Campaign 

November 2, 2021
CAPTC programs incorporate inclusive care as a key framework. The #InclusiveCare campaign on Twitter highlights some ways that our staff thinks about inclusive care, both as practitioners and as patients.

The Perils and Realities of Public Health Funding

November 1, 2021
Ina Park, MD, MS, is back in the public eye with more urgent calls for reassessing public health funding priorities, even amidst the COVID-19 crisis. For NPR and ProPublica (Syphilis is Resurging in the U.S., a Sign of Public Health’s Funding Crisis), she explains the complex reasons behind the explosion in syphilis cases in recent years, while in The Guardian (STI Rates ‘At Their Highest Numbers’ in US as Covid Dominates Health Funding), she reminds the public and health officials both that “STIs didn’t go anywhere and they’re going to come right back.”

October 2021

October 2021 Quarterly Newsletter

October 1, 2021
An introduction from our director, Dana Cropper, news from the Capacity-Building Assistance program, new events and COVID-19 trainings, as well as a new job aid for local health jurisdictions: it’s all in our October 2021 newsletter!

August 2021

August 2021 Quarterly Newsletter

August 1, 2021
Dante King discusses structural racism in healthcare, a new self-disclosure course to support public health professionals in assisting their clients, sexual health news, and more! All in our August 2021 newsletter!

July 2021

Long-Awaited Update to the CDC STI Guidelines is Here!

July 23, 2021
After a pandemic-related delay (and then some), the CDC’s STI guidelines have been updated for the first time since 2015—with CAPTC’s Ina Park, MD, MS, co-authoring!

The new guidelines discuss: 1) updated recommendations for gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomonas treatment; 2) additional and alternative treatment options for pelvic inflammatory disease and bacterial vaginosis; 3) updated human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine recommendations and counseling messages; 4) expanded risk factors for syphilis testing among pregnant women; 5) updated testing protocols for genital herpes diagnosis, and much more.

May 2021

CAPTC Clinical Program Medical Director and Principal Investigator Ina Park Highlights Complex Crises in Sexual Health

May 31, 2021
With two new op-eds in Scientific American (As the Pandemic Wanes, Sexually Transmitted Infections Are Likely to Rise) and STAT News (As Syphilis Comes Roaring Back, Newborn Babies are Tragic Victims), Ina Park, MD, MS, makes the case that it is long past time for us as a society to ramp up multi-modal prevention, screening, and treatment mechanisms for sexually transmitted infections.

April 2021

Meet Dr. Ina Park, physician fighting STI stigma

April 6, 2021
Our partners at the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health profile CAPTC’s own Dr. Ina Park. In her book, Strange Bedfellows: Adventures in the Science, History and Surprising Secrets of STDs, Dr. Park takes on STI stigma with a combination of medical information, history, humor, and stories from her own life.

April 17, 2021
Also, be sure to catch Ina’s New York Times editorial column, As We Creep Back Toward Normal, We Have to Figure Out How to Deal with Sexually Transmitted Infections. She calls for policies that, “adopt a proven, enlightened approach to young people’s education: one that is not exclusively focused on risk and danger, that promotes healthy sexual development and relationships — so we can ensure that, if they do choose to engage, they do so safely, responsibly, ethically and joyfully.”

April 2021 Quarterly Newsletter

April 1, 2021
Meet our new director, Dana Cropper and check out our new website! All of this and so much more in our April 2021 newsletter.

February 2021

February 2021 Quarterly Newsletter

February 1, 2021
Dr. Ina Park’s new book about STIs and stigma, an interview with Dr. Monica Gandhi, sex and COVOD-19, and so much more: all in our February 2021 newsletter.

December 2020

The CAPTC kicks off learning collaborative to ensure continued HIV prevention, treatment and care to communities during COVID-19

December 7, 2020
In September 2020, The California Prevention Training Center – in collaboration with Denver Prevention Training Center and the San Francisco Department of Health – launched its highly anticipated West Region Learning Community (WRLC).

September 2020

The CAPTC moves from training California, to training contact tracers and case investigators nationwide

September 18, 2020
The CAPTC’s Disease Intervention Training Center’s virtual skills-based training course, the National COVID-19 Virtual Skills-Based Training Programs, is now available to public health departments across the United States.

June 2020

UCSF and UCLA train an unprecedented 10,000+ contact tracers

June 24, 2020
The CAPTC has teamed with UCSF’s Global Health Sciences and UCLA to train a record number of contact tracers to slow the coronavirus.

March 2020

Access to LARCs is expanded for California’s 1.1 million Family PACT participants

March 31, 2020
The CAPTC is helping the Office of Family Planning support more clinicians deliver long-acting reversible contraception to clients same-day and onsite to comply with new legislation.

December 2019

Partner services training in Taipei

Dec. 23, 2019
CAPTC’s Alice Gandelman, Greg Mehlhaff, and Denise Tafoya delivered a multi-day capacity building training for CDC Taiwan and National Hospital staff aimed at increasing the number of HIV+ folks who refer their partners to get tested.

July 2019

Researchers united worldwide to combat stigma against STIs

July 17, 2019
CAPTC’s Dr. Ina Park spearheads a social media campaign to fight STI stigma at this year’s joint meeting of the International Society of STD Research and International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections (ISSTDR-IUSTI) in Vancouver, Canada July 14-17.

May 2019

CAPTC is awarded CDC funding to support HIV prevention workforce

May 21, 2019
This marks the third consecutive 5-year funding award the CAPTC has received for capacity building assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

April 2019

MMWR on Extragenital screening in gay and bisexual men

April 11, 2019
Groundbreaking study points to benefits of annual chlamydia and gonorrhea screenings for sexually active MSM at all exposed anatomic sites, and more frequently if recommended.

New tool for clinicians unveiled to ensure appropriate treatment of congenital syphilis

April 5, 2019
CAPTC collaborates with California Department of Public Health to create resource that enhances health outcomes for infants in face of an ongoing STD epidemic.