NEWS

N.C. Congressman David Price, three others honored at annual AIDS dinner, fund-raiser

By DAVID WILLIAMSON
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- U.S. Rep. David Price and three health professionals who have contributed much to the fight against AIDS were honored Sunday (May 4) as the AIDS Treatment and Research Unit at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hosted its annual awards and fund-raising banquet.

The UNC facility is one of largest of its kind in the United States, offering care to more than 1,500 AIDS patients in Chapel Hill and another 1,500 across North Carolina, according Dr. Charles van der Horst, professor of medicine at UNC and former unit director. Active since the epidemic began in 1981, it also contributes heavily to the multi-center national studies that have improved and continue to refine AIDS treatment.

Price, Gretchen Durham, Dr. John Wecker and Dr. Myron Cohen received the annual recognition awards, newly named for Pam Herriott, a widely admired UNC psychiatric nurse practitioner who, before she died, worked tirelessly on behalf of AIDS patients. The awards were presented at the Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill.

"David Price is someone you can always count on and who is extremely accessible," van der Horst said. "When we need to talk about a Ryan White CARE Bill or an International AIDS bill, he is there, a quiet, steady ally. He exemplifies the meaning of the word ‘service.’"

Among her many activities, Durham founded the National Teen AIDS Hotline at the Orange County Red Cross. Wecker, formerly of the drug company Boehringer Ingelheim, worked to establish the donation program of the drug nevirapine, which has had a dramatic benefit in decreasing mother-to-child transmission of HIV worldwide. Cohen has trained many infectious disease specialists and has published key scientific papers on HIV transmission and eradication.

In 1998, Price worked for passage of the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Act, which created a trust fund for making one-time payments of $125,000 to persons with hemophilia who contacted HIV through tainted blood products. People who did not have hemophilia but contracted AIDS through HIV-contaminated blood products were excluded from that act. Price now is working on legislation that would provide compassionate payments to those who contracted HIV from tainted blood and blood products.

As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Price has fought for increased funding for domestic and international HIV/AIDS programs.

With the May 1, 2003 passage of H.R. 1298, the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria Act, it appears that the United States will finally provide a level of funding that can seriously affect the spread of HIV/AIDS, van der Horst said.

A Duke graduate, Durham worked for the Red Cross in Durham for 30 years, including 24 as director of blood services, and has worked at the CDC National AIDS Hotline since 1992. She founded the Durham AIDS Network, established the American Red Cross State AIDS Network and was a founding board member of the AIDS Community Residence Association. She is a member of the Duke AIDS Unit Community Advisory Board and the N.C. AIDS Advisory Council.

"Gretchen’s kindly appearance belies her tough, no-nonsense hard work in AIDS," van der Horst said. "She is revered by the high school and college students she mentors for the Teen AIDS Hotline."

Wecker was responsible for designing and implementing the Viramune, or nevirapine, donation program of Boehringer Ingelheim, a German-based multinational pharmaceutical company where he worked until this year. In July 2001, the company announced that it would donate the drug free for five years in developing countries for use in preventing mother-to-child transmission.

"Just two doses of this medication decreases transmission by more than 50 percent," van der Horst said. "Since the program began, 42 countries have successfully applied for and received the drug, 140,000 mothers have been treated and 21,000 babies have been saved."

Besides his seminal AIDS research papers, Cohen regularly receives rave reviews for his teaching of medical students, residents and leading bench scientists and was active before most other scientists in resource-poor countries.

"Mike is the consummate clinician with savvy abilities in the hospital and compassion for all," van der Horst said. "He has never been a scientist who helicopters in to take blood from patients for research and then leaves. He has always linked research with care. He is a wonderful person and has been a great mentor to many, including me."

Money raised through the annual banquet pays for UNC’s HIV Symposium to be held Monday (May 5), which trains doctors and physician extenders from around the state to care for HIV-positive patients, he said.

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

"Members of the UNC 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: Reporters interested in covering the event are welcome. The informal dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Horace Williams House and the awards presentation will follow at 7:30 p.m. Dr. van der Horst can be reached via email at cvdh@med.unc.edu.

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