Fulfilling a campaign promise, President Clinton last week appointed former
nurse and state health administrator Kristine Gebbie to the newly created
position of AIDS Policy Coordinator. Clinton said the appointment would
ensure that 鈥榦ne person in the White House oversees and unifies
government-wide AIDS efforts鈥�.
Several prominent people had turned down the politically difficult job of
鈥楢IDS tsar鈥�, as it is widely known. Gebbie, who has been a public health
official in Oregon and Washington state, and heads the Centers for Disease
Control advisory committee on HIV prevention, supports needle exchange
programmes, more explicit and targeted AIDS prevention campaigns, and
reconsideration of the US immigration ban on people infected with HIV.
