NIH News Advisory

For Immediate Release

Monday, September 19, 2005

Contact:

Sarah A. Leavitt, Ph.D.

Office of NIH History, OD/OCPL

leavitts@mail.nih.gov

Third Annual NIH History Day to Focus on NIH Response to AIDS in the 1980s

What: The Office of NIH History is pleased to announce the third annual NIH History Day. The program will include welcoming remarks by Director of Intramural Science Dr. Michael Gottesman and NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, an illustrated lecture by Office of NIH History Director Dr. Victoria A. Harden, and the display of two panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt. At the lecture, all NIH Staff who worked on AIDS research or patient care in any capacity during the 1980s will be asked to stand and be recognized. The NIH History Day lecture is free and open to the public.

Why: The work of NIH staff in understanding and formulating a response to AIDS, a new disease in the 1980s, was unprecedented, challenging, and rigorous. This program will recognize, honor, and preserve the stories of the researchers, hospital staff, and others who worked in laboratories and with patients trying to find answers and provide quality care.

The lecture will also mark the last formal program led by Dr. Victoria A. Harden, NIH Historian for over two decades.

When: 11:00 am, Thursday, September 22, 2005.

Where: Lipsett Amphitheater, Building 10.

More Information: Lecturer Victoria A. Harden has done extensive research on the NIH response to the AIDS epidemic. In the 1980s and 1990s she interviewed dozens of NIH researchers, including scientists, administrators, and Clinical Center nurses about their experience. She has published numerous articles about her research on AIDS history and is co-editor of two books, AIDS and the Historian (NIH, 1989) and AIDS and the Public Debate: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (IOS Press, 1995). In 2001, to mark the twentieth anniversary of the first medical publication about AIDS, she collaborated with NIAID to produce the website, "In Their Own Words: NIH Researchers Recall the Early Years of AIDS," at http://www.history.nih.gov/NIHInOwnWords/

Who Should Attend: All those involved with AIDS research at NIH in the 1980s are encouraged to attend and will be asked to stand and be recognized and photographed. Those interested in the etiology of disease, in AIDS in particular, and in the NIH basic research and clinical programs are encouraged to attend, as well NIH staff and members of the public interested in learning about this exciting chapter in NIH history.

Hosts: The event is sponsored by the Office of NIH History, OD/OCPL. The reception will be sponsored by the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES).

Note to Editors: The event will be videocast at: http://videocast.nih.gov/ .

The Office of NIH History is a component of the Office of Communications and Public Liaison in the NIH Office of the Director. The NIH is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.