amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost Named to Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS

For immediate release

Contact: Cub Barrett, Manager, Program Communications, (212) 806-1602, cub.barrett@amfar.org 

New York, February 3, 2010—amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost was named to the prestigious Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) and on Tuesday was sworn into his position by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius at a ceremony in Washington, DC.
 
PACHA is a 24-person committee whose members provide advice, information, and recommendations to the HHS Secretary about “programs and policies intended to promote effective prevention of HIV disease, and to advance research on HIV disease and AIDS,” according to the PACHA mission statement.

The 24 new members of PACHA at the committee’s Feb. 2 meeting in Washington, DC .

Other members sworn in on Tuesday include Jim Kim, president of Dartmouth College; Phill Wilson, founder and executive director of the Black AIDS Institute; and Michael Horberg, the HIV/AIDS director for Kaiser Permanente. Helene Gayle, CEO of CARE – USA, will serve as the council’s chairperson.

“I’m thrilled and humbled to be included in such esteemed company, and I’m looking forward to providing the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House with my perspectives on how the United States can lead the worldwide effort to end AIDS,” Frost said. “My appointment to this committee is a testament to how respected amfAR is in the world of policy and research.”

In a statement announcing the council’s new members, President Obama reiterated his administration’s goal to develop a National AIDS Strategy and cited PACHA’s role in helping to shape domestic and international AIDS policy.

“Today, I’m pleased to have a new group of experts joining PACHA; and I look forward to hearing from the council about our continued efforts to prevent the spread of HIV infections in the United States and to provide care and treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS around the world,” Obama said.

About amfAR
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested nearly $307 million in its programs and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide.