Chairman's Office
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Professor
Bernard Hirschel, Conference Chairman, is head of the HIV/AIDS Unit at the University
Hospital in Geneva. He is a physician, specialising in infectious diseases, and his
research had centered on HIV infection. Dr. Hirschel is consultant to the Government of
Geneva in regard to HIV/AIDS. He chairs both the Swiss commission on the clinical aspects
of AIDS and the scientific board of the Swiss cohort study, in addition to being a member
of the Swiss Commission for AIDS Research. |
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Playing a key role
in the development and growth of the Secretariat, W.H. "Chip" Lindner, Senior
Advisor to the Chairman, studied the North-South issues in relation to the Conference and
served as the focal point with the bilateral and multilateral international community. |
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Ana Maria Kleymeyer
joined the Conference team in September as the Assistant to the Chairman's office. She
provided support to both Bernard Hirschel and W.H. Lindner in their work. A Cuban-American
from Washington D.C., Ana Maria joined the Conference in August 97. |
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Monique Girod is
Professor Hirschel's secretary. She has been working with him for the last 10 years, at
the Cantonal Hospital. |
Community
Planning
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Overseeing the
development and implementation of all the Community Aspects of the Conference was Ken
Morrisson, Community Coordinator. In addition to supervising the staff of the
Community Planning Department, Ken ensured the linkages between the scientific and
community aspects of the Conference programme. Ken was the Community Forum Coordinator at
the Vancouver Conference. |
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Margaret Duckett was the
Community Programming Coordinator. She was responsible for programming the content of this
event, as well as the Community Symposia, Orientation and Summary sessions. Her
groundbreaking work in the Community response to AIDS in Australia, and her health
services consultancies in the Asia/Pacific region, are among the many reasons that made
Margaret an invaluable member of our team. |
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Working closely
with the Community Coordinator was Dominic Vuichard, Community Project Manager. He
coordinated the many community projects associated with the Conference such as the
community village and the PWA lounge and assisted the work of the Local Community
Committee. |
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Christopher Park, Community
Liaison Officer, was responsible for communications within the community sector.
Christopher organised and produced newsletters, worked on the Community Liaison Network
(CLN) and was responsible for the correspondence within the Community Planning Department.
Christopher had been with the Conference since May 1997. |
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Michael Häusermann was the
Cultural Programme Coordinator. His task was to develop a Cultural Programme that promoted
interactions between Conference participants and the population of Geneva. Active in the
fight against AIDS since 1985, Michael joined the team at the beginning of November 1997. |
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Mary Myaya,
Skills Building Coordinator, was responsible for the development of the skills building
programme. She had a background in community health education, experience in training
programme development and programme evaluation, and joined the Secretariat in January
1998. |
Scholarship
Programme
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Ida Giordano, Coordinator
of the Scholarship Programme, was responsible for overseeing the entire scholarship
programme, designed to facilitate attendance of at least 1000 delegates from around the
world who otherwise would not be able to attend. Ida held the same position at the
Vancouver Conference and joined the Geneva Secretariat in August 1997. |
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Fred McMullen, the Scholarship
Programme Assistant, was in charge of Communication & Administration for the
Scholarship Programme. Fred has a solid background in project management, and for the last
year had been maintaining the English language portion of HivNet.ch. Fred came to Geneva
from New York in 1996, and joined the Conference in October 1997. |
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Thomas Schaffer,
Scholarship Programme Assistant, was in charge of travel and logistics. Thomas has a great
deal of experience as an international travel specialist. Before joining the Conference,
Thomas worked for 3 years for The International Committee of the Red Cross. He joined the
staff in November 1997. |
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Scientific Planning
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With the Chairman of the
Scientific Planning Committee, Suzi Peel, Scientific Planning Coordinator,
established the scientific aspects of the Conference. Suzi supervised all activities
relating to the Abstract process, meetings of the SPC and the scientific programme. Suzi
had been with the Conference since December 1996 and was instrumental in setting up the
Secretariat. |
Communications
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Carole Leach-Lemens,
External Relations Manager, was responsible for the various outreach materials, as well as
serving as a liaison between the Conference and its external press consultants. A native
of England, Carole joined the Conference in September 1997 after spending several years in
New York. |
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Abigail
Glover, Publications Officer, was responsible for developing and
coordinating a range of publications for the Conference. Abigail joined the Conference in
October 1997, after working as an editor in London for the past 5 years. |
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Randy
Schmieder formed a link between the content (Science, Community) and the
technology to provide it (IT Staff) as consulting Web Editor on behalf of m.c. art design
communications. Specialising in image work, he developed many of services provided on the
site as well as the early Conference image. Randy had been contributing to the Conference
since early 1997. |
Administration
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Bruce McDougal
was the Director of Administration of the Geneva Secretariat and was responsible for its
day-to-day operation, as well as for the hiring and supervising of staff and for
organising the various committee meetings. A native of the Midwestern United States, Bruce
joined the Geneva Secretariat in January 1998 after practising law in Washington, DC for
the past eight years. |
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Francisco Mingorance was
the Local Fund Raising Manager, responsible for liaising with local and Swiss
companies. President of HivNet.ch, Francisco joined the Conference in July 1997. |
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Bernard Allemand was the
General Finance Manager of the Conference. Bernard coordinated financial aspects of the
Conference including providing financial analyses and projections, cost and cash flow
forecast as well as day-to-day supervision of the budget. |
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Nelson Matute
was the Financial Coordinator for the Volunteer Office. Originally from Honduras, he had
been living in Geneva for many years. He was especially interested in the social aspects
of the Conference and joined the team in February 1998. |
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Jackie Filippi, our
receptionist, always had a smile and a kind word for visitors and made every effort to see
that inquiries are forwarded to the appropriate person. Fluent in French, English and
Italian, Jackie answered the main switchboard at +41 22 737 33 44. |
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Willy Kititi provided
overall general and technical office support to the Secretariat. Willy is a native
of Zaire and has been in the Geneva area for several years. He joined the Conference in
February 1998. |
Information
Technology (IT)
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Victor
Gabriel, IT Manager, was responsible for the overall coordination of the IT
services, and in addition to his responsibilities with the Conference, Victor was also
responsible for managing the IT in the Infectious Disease Division of the Geneva Cantonal
Hospital. A Portuguese national, who grew up in Zaire, Victor had lived in Geneva for 23
years. |
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Ricardo
Machado, IT Manager Associate, shared with Victor Gabriel the responsibility
for the design and implementation of the IT services, as well as the Conference web site,
and the Secretariat LAN. A native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Ricardo joined the staff in
May 1997. |
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Suzanne Du Pasquier served
as Volunteer Training Coordinator, developing the volunteer staff needed to help
participants easily use the IT services provided during the Conference. Suzanne came to
the Conference in February 1998 after working in software marketing in London. |
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Adam von Reyn assisted in
configuring and maintaining the vast number of computer resources available for Delegates
at Palexpo. Adam originally came the Conference in 1996 to help lay software foundations
with the IT Staff, and was currently a student at the University of Vermont. |
Volunteer
Programme
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Viola Krebs, Volunteer
Coordinator, was responsible for the Volunteer Programme Staff and recruiting and training
of the army of volunteers necessary for both the Secretariat Office and the Conference
itself. Having worked in the field of HIV/AIDS in the past, Viola joined the Conference in
May 1997. |
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