Bay Area Reporter - October 19, 2000
Terry Beswick

"I'm really excited about it," Shriver said of his appointment to the job first held by the late Dick Pabich, and vacated by Pabich assistant Bill Barnes earlier this year. "I think it affords for the community another opportunity to get a handle on the epidemic.

"We write the legacy of the epidemic in this city," Shriver said. "And we do it better, earlier - and sometimes bloodier - than anywhere in the world."

Shriver, who is openly gay and HIV-positive, spoke to the Bay Area Reporter on Monday, October 16, from his office at the University of California, San Francisco's AIDS Policy Research Center, where he has served as co-director for community initiatives.

"Michael Shriver has consistently been one of the most effective champions of strong, effective HIV/AIDS policies at both the federal and local levels," Brown said in a statement. "Mr. Shriver's knowledge of the issues, inside and out, from local and state to national and global, is unrivaled. His professional dedication and focus are unmatched, and he is truly one of our most committed HIV-positive advocates."

Shriver is taking a pay cut in accepting his new position. In his current post at UCSF, Shriver was earning $69,000 annually, while the mayor is planning to pay him $50,000, he said.

As the mayor's adviser on AIDS, Shriver said he will report directly to Brown's senior aide, Steve Kawa. Mayoral spokesman P.J. Johnston told the B.A.R. that Shriver's position is funded through the Department of Public Health.

One of the original members of the first ACT UP/San Francisco, Shriver once linked arms across the Golden Gate Bridge as part of a small group calling itself "Stop AIDS Now or Else/Golden Gate Chapter."

As former policy director and executive director at 18th Street Services, which later merged with Operation Concern into New Leaf, he is well-acquainted with substance abuse issues in the gay and lesbian communities, and said he is concerned with the epidemic of crystal methamphetamine and other "party" drugs in San Francisco's gay community, and the concurrent use of Viagra, which he said is turning "bottoms into tops."

One of the principal architects of a demonstration project under way in the city funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which targets HIV-positive men for prevention education, Shriver writes a column accessible on the Web at www.hivstopswithme.org.

A 1985 graduate of the University of Notre Dame with bachelor of arts and science degrees, Shriver has served as a consultant to local, state, and federal agencies and organizations on HIV concerns and has received several awards for his advocacy on behalf of people living with HIV.

Shriver previously served as executive director of Mobilization Against AIDS, which used to coordinate the International Candlelight Vigil, from 1993 to 1995. He also served on the San Francisco Health Commission from 1994 to 1996 as chair of the commission's budget committee, until he moved to Washington, D.C. to serve a tour of duty as deputy director for policy at the National Association of People With AIDS.

"Michael has truly been a great ally in my efforts to pass legislation and provide the resources necessary to improve the health and well-being of San Franciscans," commented Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). "I can think of no one more qualified, capable, and deserving of the position."

"Having been a health commissioner for two years," Shriver said, "if there's one thing I know it's how systems work."

Shriver has a full agenda for his new job as part of the Brown administration. Using what he calls "strategic visioning," he said that he does not expect to have disagreements over policy with the Department of Public Health across the street from City Hall.

"I think the next big thing we have to see is the next consensus conference," Shriver said, referring to a mid-November meeting between DPH and UCSF that will attempt to finalize estimates of how many people are being infected annually in San Francisco.

Shriver co-authored the "Response to Updated Estimates of HIV Infection in San Francisco, 2000," which estimated that 750-900 new HIV infections were likely to occur in San Francisco this year, an estimate derived from several "indicator" studies. The "response" document included an "11-point action plan" which aims to turn around the trend in new infections, though DPH has since called both the estimate and the plan "draft" documents.

Shriver, 37, said he was impressed by Mayor Brown's ready agreement to introduce the DPH/UCSF plan at a City Hall press conference in early August.

"That's when the epidemic transcends politics," he said.

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