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.