The directors of the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention are sorry to inform you that one its co-directors, Susan Dresibach, PhD, has retired and will no longer serve RCAP as co-director. Susan recently retired as assistant research professor, Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences, at the University of Colorado Denver. Susan will continue to be affiliated with RCAP as co-director emeritus.

Dr. Dreisbach was an RCAP co-director nearly a decade and made numerous and significant contributions to the mission of RCAP and to advancing HIV/STD prevention in rural American. Among her noteworthy contributions was senior editor of the RCAP guidelines, Tearing Down Fences: HIV/STD Prevention in Rural America (2009). FENCES is the first and only guide for HIV/STD prevention for rural communities published in the United States. The need and value of this guide is illustrated by the fact that over 6000 copies have been distributed, upon request, to prevention specialists throughout the country. This landmark guide continues to provide prevention strategies and resources as a “living document” on the RCAP website. Susan’s wisdom and leadership made FENCES a valuable contribution to controlling HIV/STD in rural America.

Susan wrote RCAP fact sheets including HIV/AIDS in Rural America: Challenges and Promising Strategies (2009) and Rural Methamphetamine Use and HIV/STD Risk (2006). The fact sheets have been highly popular with numerous downloads from the RCAP website. Susan also made several presentations at the RCAP national conference and authored publications for the RCAP monograph, many of which reported the results of rural prevention needs assessment that helped shape RCAP activities.

Susan’s commitment to HIV/STD prevention in rural communities has been a valuable asset to RCAP. RCAP has been fortunate to have her as a co-director as very few people have the wisdom of HIV/STD prevention needs of rural America as Susan. Thanks, Susan, for all that you did for RCAP and rural America. We will always be grateful.