In Memoriam: Dan Dunable, Longtime Atlanta AIDS Activist

Dan Dunable, longtime Atlanta AIDS activist and HIV treatment educator, died unexpectedly at home October 4th. He was 51.

Dan grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia, and received a BS in Business Administration from West Virginia University. After relocating to Atlanta in the late 1970s, he enjoyed a successful career in electronic sales with Macy's, becoming one of the retail giant's leading performers. His career evolved in the mid 1990s after he became a volunteer with Atlanta's AIDS Survival Project and was subsequently tapped to manage the agency's Treatment Education Department. Under his direction, it became the most influential and respected resource of its kind in the southeast.

Dan excelled as an advocate in HIV treatment education, regularly attending scientific conferences and publishing articles read by people all over the world. Over the years he had been a member of the Southeastern Gay Men's Health Summit and Positive Living Conference organizing committees and served on the AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta (ARCA) and Emory Hope Clinic community advisory boards. Most recently, Dan had been a Research Specialist with the University of Connecticut's Atlanta-based Share Project.

Dan is survived by a brother, Kerry, and his mother, Ellen. He will be deeply missed by family and friends as well as the HIV/AIDS community, for whom he had been a generous, dedicated link to information and resources for over a decade. A memorial service will be held Saturday, October 21, 2006 at 1 PM at St. Mark's United Methodist Church, 781 Peachtree Street, in Atlanta.

A memorial fund to benefit Dan's favorite AIDS organizations has been established. Donations may be forwarded to BeautyAid, Inc., 781 Dalerose Avenue, Decatur, GA 30030. www.beautyaid.org.

Some articles on The Body from Dan Dunable:

• News From the 11th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (March/April 2004)

• News From the 2nd IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment (September/October 2003)

• Highlights From the 10th Annual Retrovirus Conference (April 2003)

• Attending a Scientific Conference When You're Not a Scientist (Spring 2003)

• Sexual Dysfunction and HAART -- Is There a Connection? (November 2002)

• Diarrhea: Will Anything Work? (August 2000)

• Mitsuyasu Weighs in on Interleukin-2 (July 2000)

• AIDS Treatment Information on the World Wide Web (March 2000)

• A List of Drug Company Patient Assistance Programs (February 2000)

• Lipodystrophy: Do We Have Any Answers Yet? (October 1999)

• Chlorine May Not Protect Against Cryptosporidium in Swimming Pools (August 1999)

• Traveling With HIV (June 1999)

• Summaries From the Sixth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (March 1999)