2009

U.S. repeals funding ban for needle exchanges: San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, December 18, 2009; Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer; WASHINGTON -- In a victory for AIDS-prevention efforts, Congress and President Obama have repealed a 21-year-old ban on federal funding for local programs that supply clean needles to drug users. The repeal was part of a $163.5 billion appropriations bill for labor, health and education that Obama signed Wednesday. It
World AIDS Day: No time to let up: San Francisco Chronicle - December 1, 2009; Worldwide AIDS infection rates are curving down. People carrying the virus are living longer. Life-prolonging drugs, which also reduce transmission rates, and prevention advice, are making a difference. The counterattack in a long siege is showing results. Borne out in a U.N. report in advance of today s World AIDS Day
Edward Zold - AIDS activist - dies: San Francisco Chronicle - November 19, 2009; Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer; In the early, battle-heavy days of AIDS and HIV activism, Edward Zold was a young man who knew how to hold his own against the country s most prominent public health and government leaders. A good-looking hipster-type who as a teenager was diagnosed with HIV, Mr. Zold was one of the most passionate and thoughtful AIDS
San Francisco: HIV drug study needs volunteers with dark hair: San Francisco Chronicle - November 5, 2009; Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Writer; Wanted: Dark-haired HIV-negative men and women to participate in a study designed to measure drug levels in hair. It s called the Strand Study and it s part of a larger effort by AIDS scientists to look at whether people who are HIV-negative can benefit from prophylactically taking anti-HIV drugs to reduce their chance
S.F. AIDS meeting has real-world focus: San Francisco Chronicle - October 29, 2009; Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer; More than 3,000 public policy experts, health educators, patients and their advocates are expected to attend this week s U.S. Conference on AIDS in San Francisco. The conference, which runs through Saturday at the Hilton San Francisco in Union Square, is billed as the nation s largest annual AIDS meeting, but notably a
Project Homeless Connect turns 5 in S.F.: San Francisco Chronicle - October 29, 2009; Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer; It started in October 2004 with Mayor Gavin Newsom and other city workers walking the streets of the Tenderloin and asking homeless people what they needed. Their goal was to convince those living on the streets to walk into the lobbies of a handful of nearby residential hotels where social workers were waiting to help
Stem cell agency awards $230 million in grants: San Francisco Chronicle - October 29, 2009; Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer; California s stem cell agency announced Wednesday $230 million in grants for research into treating cancer, diabetes and a host of other devastating diseases that scientists hope will be ready to test in human subjects in the next four years. Among the grants are two to UCSF, $20 million for research into stem cell mi
Macy's Passport vamps it up: San Francisco Chronicle - October 28, 2009; Aaron Britt; There was a whole lot of vamping on the runway - and off - at the 27th annual Macy s Passport fashion show at Fort Mason in San Francisco. That was even before the closing Glampire segment, featuring an array of darkly brooding looks that played right into the popular fascination with all things Transylvanian. Mehcad B
Referee can sue commission over boxer's HIV: San Francisco Chronicle - October 26, 2009; Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer; A boxing referee who learned after a fight that one of the combatants was HIV-positive can sue the State Athletic Commission for negligence, a state appeals court has ruled. The commission has a legal duty to make sure all licensed professional boxers have tested negative for the AIDS virus, as well as hepatitis-B and
Pelosi's effort to protect AIDS funds fails: San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, October 22, 2009; Drew Joseph, Chronicle Washington Bureau; Washington - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi failed to get a provision in the Ryan White Extension Act to permanently protect San Francisco s federal HIV/AIDS funding. The House on Wednesday approved $2.35 billion for the program, named after a young Indiana AIDS activist who contracted the virus through a blood transfusion
Experts meet to formulate federal AIDS policy: San Francisco chronicle - October 16, 2009; Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer; Hundreds of AIDS and HIV experts - including doctors, patients and public health advocates - will attend a highly anticipated meeting in San Francisco tonight with White House officials to address the need for a federal strategy to battle the infectious disease. President Obama has pledged to create the nation s first
S.F. could lose millions in AIDS funding: San Francisco Chronicle - October 1, 2009; Drew Joseph, Hearst Washington Bureau; Washington - San Francisco could lose up to $5.3 million dollars in awards for HIV/AIDS care and treatment under the Ryan White CARE Act financing formula moving through Congress. A Senate committee unanimously voted on Wednesday to extend for four years the funding provided under the Ryan White CARE Act of 1990, but t
Editorial: A dose of hope on AIDS vaccine: San Francisco Chronicle - Monday, September 28, 2009; The modest success of an AIDS vaccine trial says more about the hunger for positive results than anything else. A silver-bullet shot remains years away, though the distant end line is now conceivable. The vaccine test reported infection rates were reduced by 31 percent among volunteers protected by a double dose of vac
AIDS researcher knows the value of persistence: San Francisco Chronicle - September 25, 2009; Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer; A new vaccine that showed the first partial success in preventing AIDS infection is the result of decades of work by Bay Area scientist Donald Francis, a controversial disease fighter whose early role in combatting the epidemic became the basis of a movie. This definitely would not have happened without Don Francis, s
AIDS vaccine promising; experts urge caution: San Francisco Chronicle - September 25, 2009; Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Writer; As Bay Area scientists celebrated the first promising results from the largest-ever AIDS vaccine trial, they cautioned that much more research is needed before a vaccine could be available to the public. The news that an experimental AIDS vaccine tested on 16,000 heterosexual volunteers in Thailand had be
Pared down Passport will do it with style: San Francisco Chronicle - September 13, 2009; Carolyne Zinko, Chronicle Staff Writer; Does Macy s Passport fashion show fundraiser ever lack for drama? With celebrity guests who cancel at the last moment (Elizabeth Taylor), the famous underwear sequence that titillates guests and splashy guest performers, the answer, of course, is no. This year s nail-biter is the economy. The show, one of the longest-r
Editorial: CDC should recommend routine circumcision: San Francisco chronicle - August 31, 2009; The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are weighing a proposal to recommend routine circumcision for all baby boys born in the United States to curb the spread of HIV and other infections. The CDC should ignore the cries of outrage from so-called intactivists and recommend the procedure. The evidence shows that
Prop. 8 foes to decide whether to fight in 2010: San Francisco Chronicle - August 10, 2009; Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer; This is a big week for same-sex marriage advocates, as a clearer picture will emerge about whether they re going to put the issue before voters again in November 2010 or wait until 2012. Or beyond. On Wednesday, Equality California, one of the organizations at the forefront of the anti-Proposition 8 campaign last year,
A new strain of HIV - what it means to you: San Francisco Chronicle - August 4, 2009; Doc Gurley**; The announcement that a new HIV virus has been discovered alarmed many relatively-unflappable people. Does this announcement change safe sex recommendations? To answer that question, first we ll cover The Background. Afterwards, stay tuned for What Are You Gonna Do About It? Finally check out Sext: Acronym Stimulation
Governor's cuts could be challenged in court: San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, July 30, 2009; Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer; SACRAMENTO, CA - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger s cuts of hundreds of millions of dollars from state health and welfare programs are probably headed for the courts, which will decide whether he has the power to reduce spending that lawmakers have already lowered from previously approved levels. California s Constitution al
Governor signs $84.5 billion spending plan: San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, July 29, 2009; Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau; Sacramento - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday ended the months-long saga over California s enormous budget deficit, but not before slashing nearly half a billion dollars more from services to the poor, sick and elderly. Schwarzenegger signed a package of legislation to wipe out a $24 billion deficit, cutting healt
Conference to address black women and HIV/AIDS: San Francisco Chronicle - July 25, 2009; Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer; Tony Wafford has taught his three daughters that when they go on a date, they need to be prepared: They carry a credit card, cash for a cab, a cell phone and a condom. Young black women, he tells them, make up a strikingly disproportionate amount of HIV and AIDS cases in the United States . HIV infection is the lead
Obama and needle exchange: San Francisco Chronicle - July 15, 2009; Jon Carroll; Look, I know Barack Obama has a lot on his mind. I said that before, when his Justice Department filed a brief favoring the Defense of Marriage Act, even though the candidate Obama had come out solidly against it. Obama s stance on issues of interest to the LGBT community has always been a little iffy - yes, he says th
Review: 'Sex Positive': San Francisco Chronicle - July 3, 2009; David Wiegand, Chronicle Staff Writer; -- Documentary, directed by Daryl Wein. (R. 75 minutes. At the Roxie.) Those who fail to learn from history ... And you know the rest. Except it is rather stupefying to realize that far too many people seem willing to unlearn the lessons of the early years of AIDS and HIV. Back in the early 1980s, virologist Dr. Joseph
New global AIDS chief goes to work immediately: San Franciscio Chronicle - June 25, 2009; Jim Doyle, Chronicle Staff Writer; Dr. Eric Goosby wasted no time starting his new job as the U.S. global AIDS coordinator. He flew from the Bay Area to Geneva hours after his confirmation by the Senate and was sworn in when he landed. Having dispensed with the formalities, the UC San Francisco medical professor led a U.S. delegation this week in a meet
Online map details HIV prevalence in each state: San Francisco Chronicle - June 22, 2009; Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Writer; It s not surprising that San Francisco is among the top 20 counties with the highest AIDS and HIV prevalence, but a new national online map shows the Georgia counties of Fulton and DeKalb as well as Virginia s Petersburg County also make the list. County-level data on the intensity of AIDS and HIV cases, as well as sta
Senate confirms UCSF nominee for AIDS post: San Francisco Chronicle - June 20, 2009; Jim Doyle, Chronicle Staff Writer; The Senate confirmed on Friday a UCSF medical professor and leader in the fight against the AIDS epidemic as the new U.S. global AIDS coordinator. Dr. Eric Goosby was appointed by President Obama in March to head the U.S. strategy for addressing HIV around the world, and will oversee the implementation of the President
Protesters rally against HIV/AIDS services cuts: San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, June 11, 2009; Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer; Sacramento -- Arturo Jackson III has lived with HIV for 29 years and relies on seven drugs that cost $50 a month with government subsidies. But under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger s proposed budget cuts, those subsidies could be reduced, making the medication cost unaffordable to Jackson and others. On Wednesday, Jackson
Cyclists ride from S.F. to L.A. for AIDS care: San Francisco Chronicle - June 1, 2009; Jim Doyle, Chronicle Staff Writer; More than 2,100 bicyclists set out Sunday on the eighth annual AIDS/LifeCycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, raising money for AIDS/HIV care and boosting awareness at a time of state government budget cuts. The event, co-sponsored by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, drew
S.F.'s budget casualties barely beginning: San Francisco Chronicle - June 1, 2009; Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer; Starting July 1 in San Francisco, it will cost more to ride Muni buses, park at metered spaces and buy cigarettes. At least one drop-in center for homeless people will close. Social workers and case managers will work shorter weeks. Services for those with HIV and AIDS, drug and alcohol addictions and mental health pro
Health: Major cut in services for poor, kids: San Francisco Chronicle - May 30, 2009; Erin Allday; The proposal The governor s budget would slash $1.4 billion from state health services, including $227 million announced Friday. The single biggest cut would be nearly $700 million from the state s Medi-Cal program for the poor. The proposal also calls for eliminating the state s Healthy Families program - saving $322
Feds want public ideas for women's health funds: San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, May 27, 2009; Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer; UCSF is hosting a public meeting with the National Institutes of Health this week, giving Bay Area scientists and health care advocates a rare opportunity to help direct the future of federal funding for women s health research. San Francisco is one of only four cities in the country hosting such meetings, which are de
Governor proposes deep cuts, with more to come: San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, May 27, 2009; Matthew Yi, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau; Sacramento - More than 200 state parks would be closed, college students would no longer receive Cal Grants and millions of Californians would lose health and welfare assistance under the latest proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to deal with the state budget crisis. The plan, released Tuesday by the governor s fin
Obama off to a rocky start on AIDS funding: San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, May 13, 2009; The road to ending AIDS comes with warning sign: Caution - Politics Ahead. Just ask President Obama, who s getting a crash-course introduction. He s drawing howls for both his domestic and overseas AIDS policies. AIDS groups badly want to expand Bush-era policies they favored while doing away with conservative policies
ER's offer HIV tests in bid for prevention: San Francisco Chronicle - Monday, May 11, 2009; Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writer; After three days of a nasty cough and persistent headache, a 42-year-old man recently visited San Francisco General Hospital s emergency room, expecting to leave with a flu diagnosis. The patient, whose name is not being used to protect his privacy, was anxious to return to his job as a hardwood floor installer the nex
Obama disappoints needle-exchange advocates: San Francisco Chronicle - Monday, May 11, 2009; Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer; President Obama has called for repealing the ban on federal funding for anti-AIDS programs that supply clean needles to drug users. His drug policy director supported such a program when he was Seattle s police chief. And last week, Obama s nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration won praise in a Senate committ
Documentary purports to rip GOP's closet doors: San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, May 8, 2009; Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer; The new documentary Outrage accuses some politicians wh... Rep. David Dreier Florida Gov. Charlie Crist Director Kirby Dick on the set of Outrage. SAN FRANCISCO -- California GOP Rep. David Dreier and a number of other politicians are the unwilling stars of a controversial new documentary with an explosive premise - it
Bay Area charities unite, share aid to survive: San Francisco Chronicle - April 29, 2009; Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Writer; As the economy continues its tailspin, Bay Area nonprofit leaders are making plans to consolidate their charities in order to survive. A survey of 326 charities conducted by the San Francisco Foundation found that the majority are buckling under the wave of newly unemployed seeking aid, and the triple-threat of state f
Supreme Court won't stop suit against Gilead: San Francisco Chronicle - April 22, 2009; Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer; The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to halt a securities-fraud suit against Gilead Sciences Inc. by investors who claim the Foster City biotech company inflated its stock price in 2003 by illegally marketing its anti-HIV drug Viread for unapproved uses. The court denied review Monday, without comment, of Gilead
Always wear a party hat: San Francisco Chronicle - Tuesday, March 24, 2009; Jon Carroll; When last we left our hero, Pope Benedict XVI, he was reinstating a known Holocaust denier to the priesthood, then - after just a teeny bit of criticism - saying that the Vatican had made mistakes, in part because it didn t know the cleric s views because it had failed to google him. OK, not google. But the pope did sa
Universal health care called S.F.'s future: San Francisco Chronicle - March 12, 2009; Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer; San Francisco -- San Francisco s Public Health Department will increasingly move toward providing universal primary care and away from funding supplementary programs for drug users, the mentally ill and others, the city s public health chief told The Chronicle. In two or three years, the city s first-of-its-kind univer
Michael Calhoun - leader in AIDS fight - dies: San Francisco - Thursday, March 12, 2009; Elizabeth Fernandez, Chronicle Staff Writer; Michael Calhoun, a leader in the global fight against AIDS, has died of cancer at his home in Mill Valley. He was 61. Mr. Calhoun was the chief operating officer of Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation, which is headquartered in San Francisco. He was a great thinker and strategist for the work we are doing throughout the wor
A new call to defeat the AIDS virus: San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, March 6, 2009; David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor; SAN FRANCISCO -- Scientists at major medical centers in the United States , the drug industry and AIDS advocates are calling for a new research effort to defeat, once and for all, the viral infections that have caused the global AIDS epidemic that kills more than 2 million people each year worldwide, despite the antivi
Macy's keeps high-profile events despite cuts: San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, February 19, 2009; Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer, tabate@sfchronicle.com; Macy s will continue several high-profile community events, including its Passport fundraiser that benefits people with HIV and AIDS, despite a company reorganization that will close San Francisco s Macy s West division in the spring. Our commitment to the communities where we do business remains strong, said Macy s sp
Novel S.F. program tries to cut new HIV cases: San Francisco Chronicle - Monday, February 9, 2009; Elizabeth Fernandez, Chronicle Staff Writer; This month, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation is launching an innovative program designed to catch new HIV infections shortly after they occur - when the risk of transmission is the highest. The goal of the two-year pilot project, the first of its kind in the nation, is to reduce by half the number of new HIV cases by
$80 million to go for Health Dept.: San Francisco Chronicle - February 4, 2009; Heather Knight; Mayor Gavin Newsom has charged the Department of Public Health with coming up with another $100 million in potential cuts by the end of this month to help the city bridge its massive budget deficit. So far, the department has come up with $21 million in cuts and presented those to the Health Commission on Tuesday. That
In tune with Fred Hersch: San Francisco Chronicle - February 3, 2009; Jesse Hamlin, jhamlin@sfchronicle.com; Fred Hersch went through hell last year. The splendid pianist and composer spent months in and out of the hospital with a string of life-threatening maladies, including pneumonia and a frightening bout of AIDS-related dementia . But Hersch, who plays jazz with uncommon fluency, feeling and invention, has recovered, reg
Editorial: A bad start on AIDS: San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, January 30, 2009; President Obama is all about sound science and a fresh global image. On these points he has no better opportunity than building on the prior White House s $15 billion worldwide AIDS program, one of former President George W. Bush s notable successes. But he fumbled the first step with summary firing of Dr. Mark Dybul,
Open Forum: Lifting of global gag rule celebrated worldwide: San Francisco Chronicle - January 26, 2009; Shalini Nataraj; President Obama s overturn of the global gag rule on Friday was greeted with loud cries of joy by women around the world. Initially put in place by President Reagan, then re-instated by President George W. Bush on his first day of office in 2001, the policy prohibits U.S. funding for organizations that speak about abor
Martin Delaney, HIV patient advocate, dies: San Francisco Chronicle - January 25, 2009; Sam Whiting, swhiting@sfchronicle.com.; Martin Delaney, who started the pioneering HIV patient advocacy and treatment organization Project Inform, died Friday of liver cancer at his home in San Rafael. He was 63. Marty Delaney was highly influential in opening a pipeline of drugs that have played a major role in saving countless lives, said Dr. Anthony S. Fa
"Change has come to America": New White House Web site has roster of LGBT issues: San Francisco Chronicle Political Blog - January 20, 2009; Posted by Carla Marinucci, cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com; We have President Barack Obama giving the hang loose sign to the Hawaiian marching bands in the inaugural parade -- so maybe it is no surprise we re already seeing the new motto on the usually staid White House official website: Change has come to America, it declares. And yes, it has: in a shift from the Bush years, t
New tack for King Day celebration in S.F.: San Francisco Chronicle - January 18, 2009; Nanette Asimov, nasimov@sfchronicle.com; If you march long enough, you re bound to get somewhere. Still, it is with awe that those who have marched for years honoring the civil rights legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. say the time has come to suspend the journey and relish the promised land. It s amazing, said the Rev. Cecil Williams, chairman of the Northern
Helping ill kids have fun at camp: San Francisco Chronicle - January 18, 2009; Shelah Moody, smoody@sfchronicle.com; As founder of Camp Arroyo in Livermore, Elaine Taylor is dedicated to bringing joy to seriously ill children. In 1990, Taylor and her husband, Barry, who ran a successful office equipment dealership, stablished the Taylor Family Foundation to raise money for programs that help low-income children with HIV/AIDS. Later t
OPINION: Alternative medicine to the rescue: San Francisco Chronicle - January 13, 2009; Deepak Chopra; One of the hidden downturns in the current economic crisis is occurring in medicine. People have stopped going to the doctor in alarming numbers - some hospitals report a 40% cancellation rate in appointments among heart patients. Most of these are follow-up patients who need to be told how to manage their condition, u
OPEN FORUM: Why the U.S. must lead on global HIV and TB treatment: San Francisco Chronicle - January 13, 2009; Diane V. Havlir; As we consider the mission of the next secretary of state, we must remember that U.S. diplomacy and global security also require strong leadership to advance the causes of global health. In fact, the U.S. Institute of Medicine has urged, in a report released last month, that global health should be a key component of U

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