Second Annual AIDS Vaccine Day Honors Volunteers Nationwide

of-the-art research facility designed to bring AIDS vaccines from concepts to clinical
trials. Gary Nabel, M.D., Ph.D., director of the center, has already begun recruiting
scientists and charting the research course of the program.
Activities will be held throughout the United States. To commemorate the
President's speech, Morgan State University in Baltimore will host a one-day conference
co-sponsored by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Immunization Research and the
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. The conference will feature nationally known AIDS
researchers, HIV prevention experts and community leaders discussing the future of the
AIDS vaccine research and the impact a vaccine would have on traditional ideas of
preventing HIV/AIDS. An open forum will include panelists who have volunteered in
Phase I, 11 and Ill vaccine studies. Other speakers include: Earl Richardson, Ed.D.,
president of Morgan State University; Rep. Elijah Cummings (D.-Md.); Don Francis,
M.D., president of VaxGen, Inc.; Helene Gayle, M.D., M.P.H., director of the National
Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention; and Margaret Johnston, Ph.D., assistant director for HIV/AIDS Vaccines at
NIAID.
In other areas of the country, state, city and local government officials will join
community groups in recognizing AIDS Vaccine Day. These officials include the
governor of Rhode Island and city mayors of Providence and Pawtucket, and the
mayors of Rochester, N.Y., and Seattle, Wash. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Daniel
Montoya, executive director of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, will attend
a volunteer recognition reception at a local restaurant for those in the vaccine study at
the District of Columbia General Hospital. Earlier that day, a volunteer will be
vaccinated as part of a brief ceremony atthe hospital.
In an educational outreach effort, several sites, including New York University
Medical Center and the Fenway Community Health Center in Boston, will distribute
"palm cards" with information about AIDS Vaccine Day, HIV preventive vaccines and
volunteering for clinical trials. The New York University Medical Center and the New
York Blood Center will honor their volunteers by participating in the AIDSWALK around
Central Park. The Fenway Community Health Center is also scheduled to present a

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