Posted on January 26, 2000 at 12:00 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Mary Fisher, AIDS activist and founder of the Family AIDS Network, announced today in Washington, D.C., that the network will close and a new AIDS institute will be established at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Fisher is well known for a landmark speech on AIDS awareness she delivered at the 1992 Republican National Convention.

Dr. Michael Saag, director of UAB's 1917 Outpatient AIDS Clinic, will direct the Mary Fisher Institute for Clinical AIDS Research and Education (CARE) in its mission to further develop and disseminate information to care providers about the most effective strategies for long-term treatment and care of people with HIV and AIDS.

During her announcement, Fisher said she looks eagerly ahead to the new institute, which will enable her organization to even better address the needs of people with AIDS and which one day may contribute to a cure. "The organization has served an important purpose, but it is time to move in a new direction," says Fisher.

"While we at UAB have long been committed to rigorous research of HIV and AIDS, merging with the Family AIDS Network will add critical components to our work," says Saag. "One of those components will be the creation and support of public and private policies promoting the well-being of people with HIV and AIDS. UAB's strengths in AIDS research combined with the network's strengths in communications and policy advocacy will allow for the creation of a powerful new entity."