Medicine

Nobel-prize winning biologist, Dr. David Baltimore talks about where we are in the search for an HIV vaccine. He also talks about recent studies and what they've told us about the disease. Baltimore heads the National Institutes of health advisory committee for AIDS Vaccine.

Dermatologist Bernard Ackerman, Professor of Dermatology and Path Director of the Institute for Dermatophathology at Jefferson College. He participated in the testing done at Holmesburg Prison.

Dermatologist Richards Tannen and current Vice Dean for Research and Research Training at the University of Pennsylvania Health System discusses their current research and testing guidelines.

Former inmate Leotis Jones. He participated in the experiments and later led the fight to end the testing program by testifying at the U.S. Senate hearings that resulted in the banning of such experiments.

Allen Hornblum is an expert in criminal justice and is the author of the book, "Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison" (Routledge). The book is about the use of prisoners as guinea pigs in the 1950s thru the mid 1970s at the Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia. The prisoners were used to test products like facial creams, skin moisturizers, perfumes, detergents and anti-rash treatments. But they were also the subjects of experiments using more hazardous substances. The experiments were carried out by doctors at the University of Pennsylvania.

Rodger McFarlane is co-author "The Complete Bedside Companion: No-Nonsense Advice on Caring for the Seriously Ill". It is published by Simon and Schuster. McFarlane is former Executive Director of two of America's most successful and influential AIDS service groups, Gay Men's Health Crisis and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Rodger has personally cared for many sick and dying family members and friends over the past 25 years. McFarlane co-wrote this book with Philip Bashe.

Dr. David Eisenberg is Director of the Beth Israel Center for Alternative Medicine Research. He is also a member of the National Institute of Health's Alternative Medicine Program Advisory Council. He'll discuss the Center's research on the use of alternative therapies, such as chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, and homeopathy.

Dr. Fritz H. Bach is a professor of surgery at Harvard University. He is a specialist in Animal-human transplant operations. Last month, he and six other public health experts and bioethicists called upon the U.S. government to issue a moratorium on Animal-Human transplants. Bach says there is a risk that an animal virus could genetically mutate in a human recipient and spread among the general population.

Jeff Getty is an animal-human transplant recipient who advocates continued research in this field. Getty, who has AIDS, recieved bone marrow from a baboon in an effort to jump-start his immune system. Getty vehemently opposes proposed moratorium on animal-human transplant research.

Author and physician Abraham Verghese talks with Terry about his recent article in the Feb 16th issue of The New Yorker, about sexual addiction: "The Pathology of Sex: Why can't some people stop having it." Verghese is also the author of the 1994 memoir "My Own Country," (Simon & Schuster) about his experiences treating AIDS in rural America.