'Cured' HIV Patient Timothy Brown to Share Story at Valley Conference

Timothy Brown will be the keynote speaker and a panelist Saturday at the HIV/AIDS Conference at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage. Brown was initially known to the world as “the Berlin Patient,” an HIV-positive man who has tested negative for the virus since receiving two stem-cell transplants from a donor with a rare genetic immunity to HIV.

Dr. Jay Levy, an AIDS researcher and educator at the University of California-San Francisco, was long a skeptic about Brown’s progress “because the virus can hide in so many places. When I finally heard he was five years without the virus being detected, that’s when I could say he’s been functionally cured.”

Speaking of his upcoming talk, Brown said, “I want to give the message of hope after 30 years of a disease which has killed millions of men, women, and children. I want to bring the message that there are a lot of things that are based on my cure that may lead to a universal cure for HIV.”

Brown will speak at 8:45 a.m. at the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences, 39000 Bob Hope Dr. The conference will conclude at 4 p.m. The event is free; there is a $5 lunch charge for walk-ins. For more information, telephone 760-282-4481.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!