Release

AIDS: 25 Years Later Focus of UAlbany School of Public Health Community Forum
Third Thursday Breakfast Broadcast (T2B2) available free online at 9 a.m. on Dec. 21

Contact: Catherine Herman (518) 956-8150

ALBANY, N.Y. (December 18, 2006) -- A 25-year retrospective of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) will be the focus of a Third Thursday Breakfast Broadcast (T2B2) on December 21 from the University at Albany's School of Public Health. The program will include interviews with Frank J. Oldham, Jr., the executive director of National Association of People with AIDS and Doug Fish, M.D., the medical director for the AIDS Treatment Program at Albany Medical Center.

"From the first reported victims in 1981 to epidemic and pandemic proportion today, HIV/AIDS is a devastating public health issue that disproportionately impacts communities of color in this country and throughout the global community," said Dwight Williams, clinical associate professor of the School of Public Health and associate with UAlbany's Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities, who coordinated the event.

The program, which is available via a free satellite downlink at www.t2b2.org, is designed to help participants understand the impact of HIV/AIDS over the last 25 years. The program will focus on current trends and how they affect women and minorities, what is or is not being done to alleviate HIV/AIDS, and what can be done to improve support efforts.

"The UAlbany School of Public Health uses the T2B2 broadcasts to address some of the most important public health concerns of our time," said Mary S. Applegate, interim dean of the School of Public Health. "I applaud Professor Williams for arranging this program, which highlights an epidemic that has become one of the biggest threats to public health globally. As public health professionals and educators, it is an epidemic we must confront."

The broadcast will be available via free satellite downlink; register at www.t2b2.org. It will be shown at the School of Public Health auditorium, followed by a live community forum featuring experts in the public health, advocacy, and human rights aspects of the AIDS epidemic. For more information about the broadcast and forum, please call (518) 402-0286.

Through its partnership with the New York State Dept. of Health, UAlbany's School of Public Health offers students a wealth of internships at state and county health departments and at a variety of public and private sector health institutions in New York State and throughout the world. Students have unique opportunities to study the most profound health issues facing us today: health disparities; preparedness for natural and terrorist disasters; tobacco; HIV/AIDS here and abroad; chronic illnesses linked to the obesity epidemic; the global need for clean drinking water; food safety; access to quality, affordable healthcare for individuals and families; substance abuse and social violence; the impact of genetics on public health; and many other high-priority issues.