2012 Honorees

K&L Gates, LLP

Kenneth Mayer, M.D.        Beryl A. Koblin, PH.D.      Darrell P. Wheeler, PH.D.

Sheila Alexander-Reid            ABilly S. Jones-Hennin                 Ronald Morgan

K&L Gates LLP comprises nearly 2,000 lawyers who practice in 41 offices located on four continents, including: Beijing, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Washington, DC. K&L Gates represents leading global corporations, growth and middle-market companies, capital markets participants and entrepreneurs in every major industry group as well as public sector entities, educational institutions, philanthropic organizations and individuals.  For the past few years, K&L Gates LLP has provided Us Helping Us pro bono legal services on significant matters of administration and personnel.  In particular, Us Helping Us thanks the Partner Lawrence C. Lanpher, Esq. K&L Gates will receive the Chairman's Award for outstanding philanthropy to address HIV/AIDS in the African-American community.

Dr. Kenneth Mayer’s clinical research career has focused on the natural history and transmission of HIV in the US and in Asia, having developed some of the very first cohort studies and prevention interventions dealing with the AIDS epidemic. Since 1994, he has been the Principal Investigator of the only NIH-funded HIV Prevention Research Clinical Trials Unit in New England focusing on biobehavioral prevention (HIVNET and HPTN) and chemoprophylaxis (MTN). He will receive the Founders Award for outstanding leadership and demonstrated service in support of HIV prevention in the African-American community.

Dr. Beryl A. Koblin is an epidemiologist and Head of the Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention at the New York Blood Center and a faculty member at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She is the Principal Investigator of Project ACHIEVE, a community-based HIV prevention research program in New York City.  Dr. Koblin’s research focus is to develop and test strategies to prevent HIV and conduct studies to better understand the changing epidemiology of HIV infection in urban areas in the US. She will receive the Founders Award for outstanding leadership and demonstrated service in support of HIV prevention in the African-American community.

Dr. Darrell Wheeler is the Dean at Loyola University Chicago’s School of Social Work. He has held academic positions at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro,Columbia University, and at the Hunter College (CUNY) School of Social Work. He was also a visiting Professor at the University of California, San Francisco. Prior to his academic career, Dr.Wheeler worked in community‐based social service programs, psychiatric hospitals, and had a private practice in psychotherapy. He will receive the Founders Award for outstanding leadership and demonstrated service in support of HIV prevention in the African-American community.

The first national HIV Prevention study of black gay men, the HPTN 061 study which began in 2009, was designed: 1) to assess whether community-level interventions intended to prevent HIV infection would be used by black MSM, and 2) to help determine whether a larger clinical trial of community-level prevention interventions among black MSM in the United States might be feasible.  The study involved 1,553 black MSM ages 18 and older in Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The HPTN 061 study was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). It was conducted by the NIH-funded HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN). The team will receive the Founders Award for outstanding leadership and demonstrated service in support of HIV prevention in the African-American community.

Sheila Alexander-Reid is an activist in the truest sense of the word. Her work to shed light on issues affecting the voiceless among us cuts across every line that could divide us; gender, race, socio-economic status, education level and sexual orientation. She is Business Development Manager of the Washington City Paper, founder and former Executive Director of the Women in the Life Association, and host of Inside Out, DC’s only FM, LGBT, radio show which airs twice a month on WPFW. Formerly serving as the Vice-President of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, Sheila has championed causes for young people, women of color, the LGBT community, survivors of domestic violence and the list goes on. She will receive the Thurlow Tibbs Award for outstanding community service.

ABilly S. Jones-Hennin has been involved as a service provider, health educator, program evaluator, and public health policy advisor to state, city and county health departments across the USA since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.  In the District of Columbia, Jones-Hennin served as the associate director of education at the Sunnye Sherman AIDS Education Programs of Whitman-Walker Clinic.  On the national level he was the Director of Minority Affairs of the National AIDS Network.  He has served on the advisory boards of the Washington Correctional Foundation, the National Lawyers Guild AIDS Network, and the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention. He will receive the Thurlow Tibbs Award for outstanding community service.

Diagnosed HIV positive in 1984, Ronald E. Morgan has been active in the HIV community working with: the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA); Whitman Walker Clinic's AIDS Walk; the Coalition for the Homeless; the Regional Addiction Prevention (RAP), Inc., and Us Helping Us.  A native Washingtonian, he is currently speaking and educating the community as a person living with HIV/AIDS. He speaks of his past addiction to drugs and the long road of recovery.  He has been featured in the Washington Post.  Mr. Morgan was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2010 and continues to serve his community despite his condition, volunteering with service organizations and advocating for people faced with HIV and cancer. He will receive the Marvin E. Young Award in recognition of outstanding volunteer support to address the problem of HIV/AIDS in the African American community.