Our Modern Plague

Abstract

On November 12, 1996, an audience gathered in Cannon Chapel on the Emory campus to hear Public Health Dean James Curran lecture on AIDS. Part of the university's Great Teachers Lecture Series, this was Curran's third time to speak about the epidemic in a church setting, having previously discussed AIDS in a synagogue and at the Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem. During the hour-long lecture in Cannon Chapel, Curran brought the audience news suited to be heard in church—news about the history of a disease that demands reverent ears for hearing, news that for the first time may offer some bit of hope. One of a handful of scientists to encounter AIDS before it even had a name, Curran is an undisputed expert on the AIDS epidemic. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), he headed the Task Force to investigate the first reported cases in 1981. Subsequently he directed the Division of HIV/ AIDS in 1989 and was appointed Assistant Surgeon General of the United States in 1991. He continues to serve as an adviser to both the Combined United Nations Programme on AIDS and the National Institutes of Health on HIV, and as a member of the board of the National AIDS Fund. Locally, he serves on the board of AID Atlanta and the scientific advisory board of Jerusalem House. When Curran left the CDC to accept the position of dean in 1995, President Bill Clinton sent thanks for Curran's work: “Your leadership in the area of HIV and AIDS prevention strengthened our global response to this epidemic and served as a calm voice of scientific reason during some difficult times.” This night in Cannon Chapel, Curran shared that calm voice and his firsthand understanding of a disease that has reshaped our world.