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Stephen Lewis
July 28, 2008
The former UN Special Envoy
for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis is the chair of the board
of the Stephen Lewis Foundation in Canada, an organization that
helps to ease the pain of HIV/AIDS in Africa by funding grassroots
projects that help individuals, families and communities ravaged
by the pandemic. He is also a Professor in Global Health at McMaster
University in Hamilton, Ontario and serves as a Senior Advisor
to the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University
in New York. Mr. Lewis is also the co-Director of AIDS-Free World,
a new international AIDS advocacy organization, based in the
U.S.
Stephen Lewis' work with the
United Nations spanned more than two decades. He was Secretary-General
Kofi Annan's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa from 2001 until
the end of 2006. From 1995 to 1999, Mr. Lewis was Deputy Executive
Director of UNICEF at the organization's global headquarters
in New York. Mr. Lewis was also Canada's Ambassador to the United
Nations from 1984 to 1988.
Mr. Lewis is co-chair of the
Leadership Program Committee for the XVII International AIDS
Conference, which will be held in Mexico City in August 2008.
He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
Mr. Lewis holds 26 honorary
degrees from Canadian universities. In 2003 he was appointed
a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest honor for
lifetime achievement. The same year, Maclean's magazine honored
Mr. Lewis as their inaugural "Canadian of the Year."
In 2005, TIME magazine listed Stephen Lewis as one of the '100
most influential people in the world.' He is the author of the
bestselling book, Race Against Time. |
