NEWS

Congressman David Price, awards to highlight AIDS fund-raising event

By DAVID WILLIAMSON
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- U.S. Congressman David Price will be among the guests of honor Sunday (May 12) as the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hosts its annual awards and fund-raising banquet.

The UNC facility is the largest of its kind in the United States, offering care to 1,500 AIDS patients in Chapel Hill and another 1,500 across North Carolina, according to its director, Dr. Charles van der Horst. It also contributes heavily to the multi-center national studies that have improved and will continue to refine AIDS treatment.

Price will speak briefly at 6:45 p.m. at the event, which begins at 6 p.m. in the Kenan Center, about the importance of the international battle against AIDS and UNC’s role in the effort.

"We cannot overestimate the importance of continued study of HIV/AIDS worldwide, and we must maintain the federal research commitment to this disease," Price said. "Twenty-four million people are infected in Africa. In some countries, the percentage of infection is as high as 25 percent.

"Not only are we facing a tragic loss of life, the AIDS pandemic also threatens the economic and social stability of these countries -- with possible ramifications for our global economy," he said. "Across the world, we must remain united in this battle against HIV and AIDS, and I’m proud that UNC is playing a central role in this effort." Awards will be presented to people who have contributed to the fight against AIDS and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes it, said van der Horst, professor of medicine at the UNC School of Medicine.

They are:

Dr. Catherine Wilfert, medical director of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and retired Duke University pediatrician, for her "herculean efforts to reduce transmission of HIV from mother to child around the globe despite being retired."

Family nurse practitioner Suzie Wilson for running the HIV Clinic at UNC Hospitals for 15 years with "remarkable energy, compassion and good humor."

Dr. Alice White, vice president of worldwide epidemiology at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and adjunct associate professor of epidemiology at the UNC School of Public Health, for helping the UNC AIDS Treatment and Research Unit create a database.

Dr. Peter Kazembe, chief of pediatrics at Lilongwe Central Hospital in Malawi "for pioneering clinical research on malaria, outstanding care of children in Africa and wise counsel to colleagues at UNC."

Dr. Richard Pendame, principal secretary of the Malawi Ministry of Health and Population "for his superb stewardship in the AIDS effort in Malawi."

"Money raised through this annual event pays for our HIV Symposium the next day, Monday, May 13, which trains 300 doctors and physician extenders from around the state to care for HIV-positive patients," van der Horst said. "Residual funds help us build clinics in Malawi and directly save the lives of literally thousands of children."

UNC physicians run or help with AIDS clinics in Lumberton, Raleigh, Asheboro, Pinehurst, Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Charlotte, he said.

"Members of the Center for Infectious Diseases conduct research, training and provide care at sites in South Africa, Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Cameroon, Madagascar in Africa as well as Russia and China," van der Horst said. "These programs provide places for U.S. doctors to get training in emerging infections such as drug-resistant TB and salmonella, as well as HIV, and help train the foreign nationals about these diseases as well."

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Note: van der Horst can best be reached through email at charles_vanderHorst@med.unc.edu

Contact: David Williamson, 962-8596 (work), 732-2991 (home)

Congressman Price’s Raleigh office Contact: Rose Auman, 789-8771