Woman With HIV to Join AIDS Panel : Disease: Mary Fisher, who mesmerized the GOP convention by telling of her ordeal, will take spot left by Magic Johnson.

President Bush intends to name Mary Fisher--the HIV-infected woman who delivered a stirring and poignant address before the Republican National Convention last summer--to replace Earvin (Magic) Johnson on the National Commission on AIDS, sources said Tuesday.

The seat, first held by Belinda Mason, a Utica, Ky., journalist who died of AIDS in September, 1991, unofficially has been reserved for someone with AIDS or infected with HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes the disease.

The 44-year-old Fisher, who was infected by her former husband, reportedly an intravenous drug user, has impeccable Republican credentials.

She is the daughter of longtime GOP fund-raiser and Detroit real estate mogul Max Fisher and is a personal friend of the Bush family. She also once served as a staff aide to former President Gerald R. Ford.

During her convention speech, she moved many in the hall to tears as she described her personal ordeal and her solidarity with those who--unlike her--have been forced to suffer in isolation and without the loving support of family and friends.

She urged her party to lift the “shroud of silence” over the deadly disease and accept the reality that it can strike anyone. She challenged Republicans who touted traditional family values to remember that “we do . . . no good if we praise the American family but ignore a virus that destroys it.”

And, with great emotion, she spoke of her prayers that her two sons, Max, 4, and Zachary, 2--neither of whom is infected--would never have to experience stigma as a result of their mother’s condition.

“I will not hurry to leave you, my children,” she said. “But when I go, I pray that you will not suffer shame on my account.”

Although the appointment has not yet been announced by the White House, Bush referred to it earlier this week on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” describing Fisher as “a very loving person . . . who just mesmerized the Republican Convention.”

Johnson quit the panel Sept. 25, complaining that the Administration had ignored the commission’s recommendations and was neglecting the growing epidemic.

The next week, he announced that he would rejoin the Los Angeles Lakers on a limited schedule. Johnson had announced his retirement in November after disclosing that he was infected with HIV.

News of Fisher’s pending appointment to the panel was praised by commission members and others in the AIDS network.

Dr. Mervyn F. Silverman, president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, called Fisher especially “courageous in coming forward to a community that has not been terribly responsive to the AIDS crisis.”

He said he hoped that “her presence on the commission will help reduce the denial among those who mistakenly don’t see themselves at risk. And perhaps she will have a greater impact on what has been an unresponsive Administration.”

Dr. David Rogers, vice chairman of the panel, called her “an extraordinary force who is smart, articulate and passionate about AIDS.” As a friend of the Bush family, she has special access to the White House and the “ear of the President,” he said.

Jeff Levi, director of government affairs for the AIDS Action Council, agreed.

“We hope she can translate the commission’s recommendations to President Bush in a way he finally can be responsive to,” he said.

The 15-member AIDS commission was created by federal statute to provide advice on devising a national strategy for dealing with the epidemic. Its members are appointed by Congress and the White House.

Last July, the panel blasted the Bush Administration in a meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan for failing to implement any of the more than two dozen recommendations contained in a major report released last September after more than two years of work.

These included proposals for a national AIDS prevention plan, universal health care coverage and significant reforms in Medicaid to extend coverage to all low-income people suffering from the disease.