International AIDS activist Stephen Lewis will take part in a World AIDS Day symposium at Brown University on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007, from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 117 in Starr Auditorium at MacMillan Hall. The public event is free, but space is limited.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Stephen Lewis, a long-time United Nations official and an international AIDS advocate, will take part in a World AIDS Day symposium at Brown University on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007, from 1 to 4 p.m. in Starr Auditorium in MacMillan Hall, 167 Thayer St.

The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited. The symposium is sponsored by the GAIA Vaccine Foundation, the Brown University AIDS Program, The Lifespan/Tufts/Brown Center for AIDS Research, Brown Hillel, Project Achieve, and The Samuel and Esther Chester Immunology Center at The Miriam Hospital.

The symposium marks World AIDS Day, a campaign launched by the United Nations in 1988 to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people worldwide, and an estimated 38.6 million currently live with HIV, making HIV/AIDS one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history.

Lewis, a former Canadian diplomat and politician, and a humanitarian, author, and advocate, will discuss the state of the AIDS pandemic. From 2001 to 2006, Lewis served as special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa under U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, bringing international attention to the AIDS pandemic in that country. He also served as Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, and deputy director of UNICEF, the U.N. organization focused on child health, education, equality and protection.

Lewis is now co-director of AIDS-Free World, a new U.S.-based international AIDS advocacy organization that promotes more urgent and effective global responses to HIV/AIDS. Lewis is a professor in global health at McMaster University and a senior advisor to the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. He serves on the board of directors of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and is chairman of the board of the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

In 2005, Lewis published Race Against Time, an award-winning book about the plight of African AIDS victims and the developed world’s response to their suffering.

Also speaking during World AIDS Day will be Judy Lieberman, M.D., professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and director of the Division of AIDS at the CBR Biomedical Institute.

Space is limited. To reserve a seat, e-mail [email protected]. For more information about the symposium, call the GAIA Vaccine Foundation at (401) 453-2068.