Monday, March 3, 2008

Participated in a State Department function for Jenna Bush on the occasion of celebrating her new book “Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope”. Took place in the main auditorium of the State department. I was the main speaker and spoke on “The Global Effects of HIV/AIDS and the origins of PEPFAR”. Other speakers were Kristen Silverberg, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, and Karl Zinmeister, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. Got a chance to chat a fair amount with Jenna Bush as we waited together for the affair to begin. She is a very nice person who said that she was “in awe” of me because of all of the amazing things that I have accomplished over the years. She worked for UNICEF for a year in Jamaica and also spent time in Panama doing AIDS work. Very nice person; has a smile exactly like her father. I gave a history of the origins of PEPFAR and a short summary of HIV/AIDS. I showed the MMWRs from June 4 and July 5, 1981. When Jenna got up to speak, she remarked to the audience how impressed she was with me and my work over so many years and when I showed the 1981 slide, she was floored by the fact that I was involved in AIDS then and that was the year that she was born.