Stephen Lewis, the former UN Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, has confirmed that he will be coming to Stanford this February as our HIV/AIDS Keynote speaker. He is the founder of the celebrated Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF). He is also a Professor in Global Health, Faculty of Social Sciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, a Senior Advisor to the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York, and co-Director of AIDS-Free World, a new international AIDS advocacy organization. The SLF website states, "As a politician, diplomat and international envoy for humanitarian efforts, Stephen Lewis has dedicated himself to improving the human condition." Mr. Lewis brings a long history of commitment to African and the problem of HIV/AIDS:
Stephen Lewis’ work with the United Nations spanned more than two decades. He was the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa from June 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. From 1984 through 1988, Stephen Lewis was Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations.
Mr. Lewis was an elected member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly from 1963 to1978.
In 1970, he became leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party, during which time he became leader of the Official Opposition.
Mr. Lewis is co-chair of the Leadership Programme 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.
In 2006, Stephen Lewis’ best-selling book, Race Against Time won the Canadian Booksellers Association’s Libris Award for non-fiction book of the year and Mr. Lewis was named the CBA’s Author of the Year for 2005.
Mr. Lewis holds 26 honorary degrees from Canadian universities and is a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest honour for lifetime achievement. In 2007, the Kingdom of Lesotho (a small mountainous country in Southern Africa) invested Mr. Lewis as Knight Commander of the Most Dignified Order of Moshoeshoe. The order is named for the founder of Lesotho; the knighthood is the country’s highest honour.
We are so excited to welcome Mr. Lewis to Stanford in February. For more information on the conference, please visit http://thinkbig.stanford.edu or email thinkbig.info@gmail.com
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