"We Were There" - HIV/AIDS
And the Band Played On…Early Days of the AIDS Epidemic in the United States: Views from Atlanta and Hollywood
On May 25, 2016, OADS offered the first in the “We Were There” lecture series. The inaugural event, “And the Band Played On…Early Days of the AIDS Epidemic in the United States: Views from Atlanta and Hollywood,” commemorated the 35th anniversary of the first AIDS MMWR article with a presentation by Dr. Harold Jaffe and Dr. Jim Curran. They shared their unique perspectives from their time leading CDC in the early response to HIV/AIDS, discussing their personal experiences and relating them to clips from the film And the Band Played On. Dr. Jaffe and Dr. Curran were then joined on stage by Dr. Walt Dowdle and Dr. Martha Rogers for a question and answer segment.
CDC staff had the opportunity to not only hear personal insights from the people who led the investigations, but also to pose questions and meet the speakers face to face. If you missed the event, or just want to relive this once-in-a-lifetime experience, we have a video of the presentation and Q&A for you to watch anytime.
- First MMWR Report of AIDS – MMWR from the week of June 5, 1981
- SPEAKER BIOS – Biographies for the 4 speakers at the inaugural “We Were There” lecture, “And the Band Played On…Early Days of the AIDS Epidemic in the United States: Views from Atlanta and Hollywood”
- EVENT POSTERimage icon – Poster signed by the 4 speakers: Dr. Harold Jaffe, Dr. James Curran, Dr. Walter Dowdle and Dr. Martha Rogers.
“I thought yesterday’s program was terrific, and it bodes well for the ‘We Were There’ series.“
“It was great to get to talk to the speakers again!”
“Good morning – I watched in IPTV. It is extraordinary. On August 31, I will be there in the morning.”
“What an excellent program! Thanks so very much for the high-quality/substance production.”
“This event was great. I usually sign in to IPTV and end up multitasking, this time, I could not get my attention off the presentation. Great format, great content. Thanks for reinvigorating our commitment to HIV and to CDC.”
“I just wanted to send a quick note to congratulate you on a fantastic inaugural ‘We Were There’ event. I really enjoyed it. I have heard similar feedback from colleagues. Kudos and well done!”
“This really was an awesome event. I could have listened to them talk even more about these early events of the epidemic and what they were thinking at the time. It was a bit difficult reliving those days, but it is also important for people to hear what it was like on this side of living through it.”
“Really, really great!”