Compelling Lecture at Academy on May 22 on the Impact of AIDS on South Africa

NEW YORK CITY, May 8 — The co-author of a new book on the impact of AIDS in South Africa, where millions have been affected by the epidemic, will speak at The New York Academy of Medicine on May 22 in a free public lecture sponsored by the Academy's Section on the History of Medicine and Public Health.

Columbia University professor Gerald Oppenheimer, Ph.D., will speak about "Shattered Dreams? - The Impact of AIDS on the New South Africa." A reception will be held at 5:30 p.m., followed by the 6 p.m. lecture. The Academy is located at 1216 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan; entrance on 103rd Street.

The story of AIDS in South Africa is one of relative poverty and social inequity within that country, of the economic gulf that separates treatment possibilities in the United States from those in Africa, and of President Thabo Mbeki’s disastrous flirtation with HIV denialism. Drawing upon painstaking oral histories, Oppenheimer's talk will tell a history of AIDS as seen through the eyes of those who have cared for the millions of men, women and children affected by the epidemic.

The talk is drawn from Oppenheimer's new book, "Shattered Dreams? An Oral History of the South African AIDS Epidemic," published by Oxford University Press and co-authored with Ron Bayer. It tells a history that starts with the AIDS epidemic among gay men two decades ago, and ends at the moment when treatment still reaches only 20 percent of those who might benefit. Oppenheimer will show the uses of oral history for public health. "Shattered Dreams" is a history told in a way that has a unique immediacy.

Gerald Oppenheimer, Ph.D., M.P.H., is Associate Professor of Clinical Socio-medical Sciences at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, and Professor at Brooklyn College & the Graduate Center (CUNY). Much of his research has focused on the HIV epidemic. He is also the co-author, with Ronald Bayer, of "AIDS Doctors: Voices From the Epidemic" (NY: Oxford University Press, 2000). Oppenheimer has begun research on a history of the Framingham Heart Disease Study (1948- ), part of a larger work on the history of the development, since 1945, of coronary heart disease epidemiology and its effect on U.S. scientific policy and American culture.

Founded in 1847, The New York Academy of Medicine is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit institution whose mission is to enhance the health of the public. Our research, education, community engagement, and evidence-based advocacy seeks to improve the health of people living in cities, especially disadvantaged and vulnerable populations. The impact of these initiatives reaches into neighborhoods in New York City, across the country, and around the world. We work with community-based organizations, academic institutions, corporations, the media, and government to catalyze and contribute to changes that promote health.

For more information about Academy programs in the history of medicine, visit our website at http://www.nyam.org/histmed.

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Posted on May 8, 2007

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Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org

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