By Rachel Kelley
Daily Bruin Contributor
Picture a "dream team" comprised of drag queens and star
athletes, supermodels and superman, fashion designers and college
students all united by a goal far different from winning a gold
medal in the Olympic games. Their mission is to defeat an opponent
so strong that it is capable of destroying millions of lives. This
dream team set out to conquer AIDS, and this time UCLA had home
field advantage.
Passport ’96, one of the largest fundraisers for AIDS research
in the world, took place Friday night in Santa Monica. This year’s
event, which also takes place in San Francisco, included an
auction, a dinner reception, and a fashion show.
Sponsored by Macy’s West and the American Express Card, the
star-studded evening raised over $1.4 million to be shared between
the UCLA AIDS Institute and other organizations such as the
Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and the Magic Johnson Foundation,
Inc. The celebrity beneficiaries served as co-chairs for the
fundraiser, revealing their compassion and concern for those struck
by the disease.
"We need to stop the discrimination that is directed toward
people who have AIDS," said HIV-positive basketball legend Earvin
"Magic" Johnson, Jr.
Along the same lines, Elizabeth Taylor spoke bitterly of the
politicians in Washington who argue about whether or not to give a
grant to AIDS research and referred to their hesitance as
"immoral."
"Until our children have vaccines,until our government decides
to wage the war on AIDS for once and for all, we need all of you."
she said.
So while the event focused on Olympic medalists such as Lisa
Leslie and TV stars like Dean Cain strutting their stuff down the
catwalk, the young men and women in the audience served as
reminders that the "dream team" (as referred to by Jimmy Jam, Janet
Jackson’s producer) has not yet come out on top.
Drag queen RuPaul expressed optimism that fundraising efforts
like Passport ’96 will result in a cure for AIDS before the turn of
the century.
"With all of the new drugs that we have going, people are living
more extended lives and increasing the possibilities," he said.
Doctors are much more skeptical.
"There have been a lot of exciting discoveries that have clearly
brought implications that life can be extended. But make no
mistake. We do not have a cure. The epidemic is not over," said Dr.
Peter Anton, director of the Center for HIV and Digestive Diseases
at UCLA.
However, Dr. Anton recognizes the importance of philanthropic
efforts to support academic research at the UCLA AIDS Institute.
Monies raised enabled him to start the Center for HIV and Digestive
Diseases, a clinical care, research and counseling facility for
AIDS patients. Passport ’96 is a unique fundraiser and extremely
beneficial to UCLA since most foundations fund clinical care and
education rather than research, he explained.
The Center for HIV and Digestive Diseases has been in operation
for about one year, and a more established center will be ready in
about six months, Dr. Anton said.
There will be three components to the center. A clinical
consultative center will provide advice, diagnosis, and treatment
options for patients, Anton explained.
"It is very important to educate patients because they are their
own greatest advocates," he said.
Secondly, a clinical wing will be implemented to take care of
those patients with symptoms such as chronic diarrhea and weight
loss problems. Now that infectious problems are controlled with
drug therapies and people with AIDS are living longer, malnutrition
as a result of diarrhea is the leading cause of death in over 50%
of all AIDS cases, he said.
Furthermore, a clinical trials unit added to the Center for HIV
and Digestive Diseases will test hypotheses for possible causes of
chronic diarrhea. Anton says 40% of immune cells are in the gut, so
although it is a relatively new idea, "Looking at HIV in the
gastrointestinal tract is like going to the front line in a
war."
The unit will also establish stronger ties with the researchers
at the UCLA AIDS Institute, a separate facility from the Center for
HIV and Digestive Diseases.
Currently, little interaction between the researchers in the
Center and the Institute occurs, which Anton says is "a crime."
Passport ’96 is not the sole reason that UCLA researchers are
able to continue working to find a cure for AIDS. Other
fundraisers, foundations, and private donors contribute as well.
Most recently the McCarthy Family Foundation, a San Diego based
philanthropic group, donated $160,000 to the UCLA AIDS Institute.
This type of grant replaces a lack of funding from the state and
federal government, said Jo Sherman, administrator from the UCLA
AIDS Institute.
The grant will be used to support research on PET imaging in
patients with HIV. The imaging, similar to an X-ray, allows
researchers to see what is happening biologically when organ
systems fail.