UNIVERSAL CITY : AIDS Coalition to Honor Area Doctors

The Los Angeles-based AIDS coalition Being Alive will present the second annual Spirit of Hope award to two area physicians known for pioneering research of the disease, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, at an upcoming awards ceremony and fund-raising event.

Dr. Michael S. Gottlieb, a Sherman Oaks doctor whose 1981 paper “Pneumocystis Pneumonia--Los Angeles” was the first scholarly report of AIDS cases published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, is one of the two doctors who will be honored by the coalition Oct. 13 at the Universal Hilton in Universal City.

Dr. Alexandra M. Levine, chief of the division of hematology at the Southern California School of Medicine, also will be honored. Levine’s research focuses on cancers related to AIDS and on various antiviral drugs tested in an attempt to find an effective treatment for the disease.

Levine, who is working with Dr. Jonas Salk, who developed the Salk Vaccine for polio, is also known for her work with HIV-infected women.

According to World Health Organization statistics, more than 17 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. At the current rate of infection, approximately 40 million people could become infected by the year 2000.

Being Alive is a coalition of about 10,000 people with HIV or AIDS living in the Los Angeles area. Being Alive’s goal is to empower those with AIDS by providing networking, counseling, legal advice and health forums, among other services.

The group’s director, Gary E. Costa, said the Spirit of Hope awards are given in honor of those who dedicate their lives to AIDS research and to the compassionate treatment of those suffering from HIV. The event is also a way to raise funds for the group. Tickets to the event cost $100 or $150. Several hundred tickets already have been sold, according to Kyle Burton, co-chairman of the event; the group hopes to sell between 600 and 800 tickets.

Costa said his most recent statistics show that in Los Angeles about 25,563 cases of “full blown” AIDS have been identified. Of those cases identified, 16,500 have died, leaving a surviving AIDS population of just more than 9,000 people, as of May.

Gottlieb said he was “excited and honored” to be a recipient of the award, “especially to be honored with Dr. Levine, whom I’ve known since the very early days of working with AIDS.” Gottlieb said the greatest challenge faced by AIDS researchers today is “to balance people’s need for hope that a treatment will be found with honesty and realism. We must balance hope against the hard fact that people are dying.”

Gottlieb added that he is proud to participate in fund-raising for Being Alive, because the group “enables AIDS patients to make informed choices about new treatments,” in addition to providing other valuable services.