Journey Begins . . .

1st Stop California - "Kick Starting the Project"



Weekend FACE AIDS Conference at Stanford University

I co-ran this national conference last year at Fairfield University and think it is a great way to begin the traveling part of the project. Dr. Paul Farmer, an inspirational and world reknowned doctor of social medicine, will be the keynote speaker and several other noteworthy and passionate specialists, public health officials, and media personnel will all be part of workshops and panel discussions regarding global HIV and cutting edge topics, such as microbicides and the "scaling up" of the very successful health programs run in Rwanda by Partners in Health. (To learn a little about Dr. Farmer and how Partners in Health is literally changing the world one community at a time read this brief article from Forbes Magazine )


Getting the West Coast Perspective

After attending this Conference, I will be volunteering in San Francisco at a non-profit organization that is dedicated to providing nutritional support to people who are critical ill or fighting HIV. The organization is called Open-hand, and to learn a little more about them their website is Openhand.org. For the majority of the two weeks I will be in San Francisco I will be staying at University of San Francisco as a favor from the Jesuits. Again, I am lucky to have the support of St Peters Prep and Fairfield University, both have been extrordinary in aiding in whatever ways possible. It is exciting to think that 6 months of work and preparation will be realized in a few days.
The interview questions have been read over by infectious disease doctors, HIV volunteers, program directors, and several other keen minds. I have taken to heart suggestions and feel the questions balance both the humanistic perspective and the on-going struggle against HIV.