Thomas Hannan (activist)

Thomas Hannan (1950 – June 4, 1991)[1] was an American opera singer[2] and HIV/AIDS activist.[2]

This article is about the HIV/AIDS activist. For the American swimmer, see Tommy Hannan.

Before the AIDS crisis, Hannan was pursuing a career in Europe as an opera singer,[2] but returned to New York City when the crisis hit.[2]

In 1986, he founded the PWA Health Group with Joseph Sonnabend and Michael Callen.[3][4][5] This nonprofit organization was the first and largest formally recognised AIDS buyers' club,[5] which aimed to widen access to promising AIDS therapies not yet approved by the FDA; the PWA Health Group went on to become an important source of AIDS treatment education and advocacy. In 2000, DAAIR, Direct Aids Alternative Information Resources, merged with the PWA Health Group,[5] but the organisations have since been superseded by the New York Buyers' Club.[6]

Hannan also helped to establish the nonprofit Community Research Initiative (CRI, later renamed CRIA, then ACRIA) in New York in 1987,[2][5] becoming the organization's administrative director.[2] One of CRI's early achievements was a trial that contributed to the approval of inhaled pentamidine for preventing Pneumocystis pneumonia, a common AIDS-related infection.[2][7]

References
  1. "Panel 02594-4". NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  2. Celia Farber (April 1989). "AIDS: Words from the Front". Spin. 5 (1). ISSN 0886-3032. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  3. "PWA Health Group". TheBody.com. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  4. Sean Strub (January 14, 2014). Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS, and Survival. Simon and Schuster. p. 178. ISBN 9781451661972. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  5. Howard Lune (2007). Urban Action Networks: HIV/AIDS and Community Organizing in New York City. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 53–54, 106. ISBN 978-0-7425-4084-2. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  6. "June 24: NYBC 5th Anniversary Birthday Party!". New York Buyers' Club. June 10, 2009. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  7. Richard Jefferys (Summer 2001). "A Long Road Traveled: Conflicts, Community and Clinical Trials". ACRIA, republished by TheBody.com. Retrieved January 3, 2015.


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