By LOU CHIBBARO JR., Washington Blade
Jan 13 2009, 6:23 AM |
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President-elect Barack Obama has asked gay physician Mark Dybul to remain in his job as U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator for an undetermined period of time, according to an e-mail message Dybul sent to his staff on Jan. 9.
Dybul, who holds the rank of a U.S. ambassador, became one of President Bush’s highest ranking gay appointees in 2006, when Bush named him as acting – and five months later as permanent – head of the Global AIDS office.
The Global AIDS Coordinator is in charge of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, a multi-billion dollar program to fight AIDS in developing countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. The program enjoys widespread bipartisan support and is considered one of Bush’s most successful initiatives.
“I wanted to let you know that I have been asked to rescind my resignation, so I will be continuing in the coordinator position beyond the inauguration,” Dybul said in his e-mail message to his staff. The Washington Post, which obtained a copy of the e-mail, published it in its online edition Monday.
A number of AIDS and reproductive rights groups have urged Obama to replace Dybul with someone the groups feel would be more likely to change the Bush administration’s insistence that at least some international AIDS relief funds be linked to abstinence-only programs.
Among the groups calling on Obama to replace Dybul as AIDS coordinator are the International Women’s Health Coalition and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, which advocates, among other things, for gay-sensitive sex education programs.
Dybul has accompanied President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush on trips to Africa, where the president and first lady visited AIDS clinics and other facilities funded through PEPFAR. Bush has praised Dybul in speeches and news briefings as a key player in the U.S. effort to combat AIDS overseas.
Before coming to the GLOBAL AIDS office, Dybul served on a planning task force that helped create the PEPFAR program. He also served as lead coordinator for Bush’s International Prevention of Mother and Child HIV Initiative at the Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to that, he served as assistant director for medical affairs at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where he worked under Dr. Anthony Fauci, the lead NIH coordinator for the government’s AIDS research programs.
According to a Global AIDS Office biography, Dybul maintains an active role as principal investigator for clinical and basic research related to U.S. and international protocols on HIV therapy. He also holds the rank of assistant surgeon general and rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, which serves as the uniformed arm of HHS.
Carl Schmid, an official with the AIDS Institute, a national AIDS group, and James Driscoll, an adviser to AIDS Health Care Foundation, which provides medical services to people with AIDS in 21 countries, said their respective groups support Obama’s decision to retain Dybul as Global AIDS Coordinator.
“From his former boss and mentor, Tony Fauci, Mark learned to master the fine art of instant adaptation to changes in Washington’s political weather,” Driscoll said. “With Obama’s inauguration, abstinence-only will join the out-of-season clothing in many a closet.”
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