November 14, 1997

SPRINGFIELD, IL -- Former Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders and 1998 Miss America Kate Shindle will be two of the featured speakers at an HIV/AIDS and STD (sexually transmitted disease) conference to be held Nov. 19 and 20 in Springfield.

Other featured speakers will be A. Cornelius Baker, executive director of the National Association of People with AIDS; Joel Greenspan, an expert in STD prevention and public health surveillance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and Michelangelo Signorile, who writes a monthly column for OUT Magazine.

The conference, HIV/AIDS: New Challenges-New Strategies, will provide the 650 service providers and educators expected to attend with information about HIV and STD infections from community, educational and clinical perspectives.

Dr. Elders will deliver the keynote address on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 9 a.m. on "Educational and Personal Responsibilities." Dr. Elders, a pediatric endocrinologist, is a member of the faculty at the University of Arkansas Medical School.

Shindle, who represented Illinois in the Miss America pageant, has chosen AIDS prevention as her platform. Her address, "On the Way to a Cure: Preventing HIV Transmission in America," will be at 8:45 a.m. on Wednesday.

Baker will speak on "Tuskegee: The Legacy" at 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 19; Greenspan will talk on "The HIV/STD Connection" at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 20; and Signorile will address "New Challenges to HIV Prevention Among Gay Men" at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

The conference is being held at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield. It is sponsored by the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois Statewide HIV/AIDS Network and Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

Illinois Department of Public Health 535 West Jefferson Street Springfield, Illinois 62761 Phone 217-782-4977 Fax 217-782-3987 TTY 800-547-0466 Questions or Comments