Reason #6 to Support Periclean Scholars: Our Mission Will Never Become Obsolete

The end of AIDS! Could it be? No doubt this story has mesmerized the nation. I know for sure that it has caught the attention of the Periclean Scholars Class of 2006, who dedicated their time together to HIV/AIDS awareness in Namibia.

Thirty years after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported outbreaks of a strange form of pneumonia (now known to becaused by AIDS), on June 5, 1981, the world has seen AIDS kill approximately 25,000,000 people and infect 34,000,000 others. Yet, we see a couple of glimmers of hope. First, on May 12, the HIV Prevention Trials Network declared its most important project, “HPTN 052”, to be terminated – because it had succeeded. The study showed that an antiretroviral drug used to prolong the lives of HIV patients can also stop HIV’s transmission. Second, on June 5, reports came out that Timothy Brown, 45 – known as “The Berlin Patient” by the New England Journal of Medicine – has essentially been cured of AIDS. Timothy Brown received a bone marrow transplant for his leukemia that added a second benefit – it transferred to his immune system the donor’s HIV-resistant genetic variation. He no longer needs antiretroviral drugs.

What a miracle, to have two potential cures for AIDS arise in the course of a month. No doubt both cures will require a lot of time, energy, and money to be distilled into cures and vaccines applicable to the general population, but they offer hope. Perhaps a new form of antiretroviral will be an absolute cure for AIDS, and perhaps bombarding the immune system with HIV-resistant cells could be carried over to public health initiatives.

So what happens when AIDS becomes manageable by vaccines and pills – as happened to polio and smallpox? The story of the potential cure for AIDS reminds me of the story of the March of Dimes. The organization’s mission was initially to cure poliomyelitis, at the time an epidemic. In 1955, a vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk – largely funded by the March of Dimes – cured polio worldwide, and essentially made the mission of March of Dimes obsolete. March of Dimes accomplished its goal and did what every single-goal-based organization did: it put itself out of business. Or did it? Perhaps for fear of losing their jobs, in 1958 March of Dimes’ members decided to use their infrastructure and adopt a new mission: to prevent premature birth, birth defects, and infant mortality.

I have to imagine that when something huge like AIDS comes crashing down, the incredible organizations that cured it will still be standing and will have moved on to the next disease. While the AIDS fight is awful, the fight itself is a huge source of public and non-profit employment. Yet, I have to believe that employees and volunteers fighting AIDS have a greater calling and would love nothing more than to be put out of a job.

The mission of Periclean Scholars is inclusive of AIDS education in Namibia, as well as many other projects that we hope will one day become obsolete – access to adequate housing in Zambia, environmental sustainability, access to schools and political support for Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico, and so on. Yet, the mission of Periclean Scholars will never become obsolete. Pericleans are student and alumni leaders committed to raising Elon’s community level of civic engagement and social responsibility through global outreach and partnerships. There will always be avenues for raising civic engagement levels and social responsibility.

This is reason # 6 to support Periclean Scholars: our mission will never become obsolete.