CURE and Health Services of North Texas present their Open Heart Awards on World AIDS Day, Monday, Dec. 1. The awards recognize those who have made a significant contribution to HIV/AIDS prevention and education, and honor those who have supported CURE, acknowledging their commitment to others.
In addition to The Names Project Foundation, local honorees are Dr. Steven Pounders and Dr. Louis Sloan.
Dr. Louis Sloan serves on the faculty of Baylor University Medical Center and practices internal medicine with North Texas Infectious Disease Consultants. He has participated in more than 100 clinical trials that have brought the latest state-of-the-art antiretroviral medications to market as well as other trials searching for new ways to control or cure HIV.
Dr. Steven Pounders began working with AIDS patients at Parkland Hospital and fought for funding for care and treatment. The story of his patient Ron Woodroof is told in the film Dallas Buyers Club. He continues to practice as one of the area’s most experienced HIV physicians.
Speakers for the event are Dr. John Carlo, Bret Camp and Penny Krispin.
Carlo serves as executive director of AIDS Arms, the largest AIDS agency in North Texas. He previously worked for Dallas County Health and Human Services as medical director and chief epidemiologist and as program director and principal investigator for the University of Minnesota’s BioWatch program.
Camp is Texas regional director of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. AHF, the largest AIDS service provider in the world, currently has two clinics in Texas — one in Fort Worth next door to AIDS Outreach Center and one in North Dallas at Medical City. He previously was director of the Resource Center’s Nelson-Tebedo Clinic.
Krispin is a nurse best remembered for giving pentamidine mist treatments to people with AIDS, the only treatment available at the time to prevent pneumocystis pneumonia. At the time, Parkland was refusing to administer the treatment. Her work was the beginning of the Nelson-Tebedo Clinic.
The event takes place at 6 p.m. Monday at Noah’s Event Space, 2151 N. Greenville Ave. in Richardson.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition November 28, 2014.