San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday January 5, 1989
Randy Shilts, National Correspondent

The group is the first such city task force in the United States to draw largely from civic leaders outside the medical and public health fields.

The 20-member panel will be chaired by Dr. Donald Francis, a leading AIDS researcher with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control who is currently serving as CDC liaison with the California Department of Health Services.

Members include Archbishop John Quinn; Representative Nancy Pelosi, D-S.F.; the Rev. William Swing, Episcopal bishop of California; Lee Smith, president of Levi-Strauss International; Caroline Wean, vice president and general manager of KPIX-TV; San Francisco Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines, and Dr. Carlton Goodlet, publisher of Sun-Reporter, a black community newspaper.

Representatives from the medical community and AIDS organizations include Dr. Paul Volberding, a San Francisco General Hospital AIDS researcher; Frank Alvarez, chief executive officer of Kaiser Permanente Medical Center; Martin Delaney, co-director of Project Inform, an AIDS advocacy group, and Jim Foster, a city health commissioner and veteran gay advocate who also suffers from HIV infection.

Other members include leaders of black, Jewish, nurses, social work, Asian-American and people with AIDS organizations.

"This new task force demonstrates that in San Francisco, the band is no longer playing on," Agnos said yesterday.

"This brings the city's response to the epidemic to an entirely new level," he said. "Having a plan for our hospitals and health department is no longer enough. AIDS will touch every aspect of our city's life and our response must involve people from every segment of the community."

Agnos plans to announce his Mayor's Task Force on the HIV Epidemic at a City Hall press conference today. After the introduction, the task force will go to San Francisco General Hospital to meet with AIDS patients.

Former Mayor Dianne Feinstein appointed an AIDS advisory body in 1983, but it was composed almost exclusively of doctors, public health officials and gay community leaders. The new task force is designed along the lines of legislation for a statewide private-public sector task force Agnos unsuccessfully sponsored during his last year as a state assemblyman in 1987.

Agnos wants the group to make consensus plans for bringing down the AIDS infection rate among minorities and intravenous drug users, preparing businesses for the coming shock of spiraling AIDS caseloads and developing medical intervention programs to treat the estimated 35,000 San Franciscans who are infected with HIV but not yet ill.

"This task force has the opportunity to reach every San Franciscan in public and private schools, in the workplace, the churches and and neighborhoods," said Agnos.

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1989. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

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