Health and Medicine

AIDS Memorial Quilt on Display at UNC-Chapel Hill

The University will use the panel to raise awareness of the disease that still affects nearly 37 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will host a panel of the AIDS Memorial Quilt from Jan. 10-31 in the West Lounge of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union. Carolina student Elizabeth Trefney and her family organized the effort to bring the panel, which features her uncle, Jeremy Trefney, who died of AIDS in 1988, to campus. The University will use the panel to raise awareness of the disease that still affects nearly 37 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will host a panel of the AIDS Memorial Quilt from Jan. 10-31 in the West Lounge of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union. Carolina student Elizabeth Trefney and her family organized the effort to bring the panel, which features her uncle, Jeremy Trefney, who died of AIDS in 1988, to campus. The University will use the panel to raise awareness of the disease that still affects nearly 37 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

UNC-Chapel Hill is a global leader in HIV research. In 2017, three new HIV prevention studies were launched, two novel HIV cure clinical trials were ongoing, and the University’s Collaboratory of AIDS Researchers for Eradication received an additional $23 million in grants to extend studies.

Media availability (Friday, Jan. 12, 10-11:30 a.m.):

On Friday, Jan. 12, from 10-11:30 a.m., Carolina student Elizabeth Trefney and Dr. David Margolis, director of the UNC HIV Cure Center, and a professor of medicine, microbiology, immunology and epidemiology, will be available for interviews in the West Lounge of the Student Union, where the AIDS Memorial Quilt panel will be on display. Trefney can speak to the importance of raising HIV and AIDS awareness and her efforts to bring the quilt to Carolina, and Margolis can share how HIV treatment has changed over the years and discuss the latest in HIV cure research.

On-site contact: Audrey Smith: (919) 801-1936.

Campus event (Wednesday, Jan. 24, 7-8 p.m.):

On Wednesday, Jan. 24, at 7 p.m. the UNC Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) will host a public event in front of the AIDS Memorial Quilt panel in the West Lounge of the Student Union. Evelyn Foust, who has served as the branch head of the NC Department of Health and Human Services, NC Communicable Disease Branch, for 30 years, will share a long-term perspective on fighting against HIV and AIDS in the state. Students attending the event will be asked to shine lights from their cell phones onto the quilt in an act of unity.

On-site contact: Audrey Smith: (919) 801-1936.

For more information about UNC-Chapel Hill’s HIV and AIDS research, please visit the UNC Center for AIDS Research.