The panel's work was supported primarily by the Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We thank the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for coordinating this support. The Lilly Endowment, Inc., and the Sierra Health Foundation provided funding that enabled the panel to undertake the study of religion and religious groups. We are very grateful to these private foundations for their assistance.

First and foremost I thank my fellow panel members, without whose untiring work and much tried patience this book would not have been possible (see Appendix A for biographical sketches). The list below identifies the panel and staff members who prepared the first drafts of each chapter—and sometimes uncounted subsequent drafts—and those who collaborated with ideas. The first authors wrote the substance of the chapters; the collaborators contributed some language and important ideas. The purpose of this list is to give credit to individuals, but of course the responsibility for the entire text rests with the panel.

1:

Albert Jonsen and James Trussell, in collaboration with John Gagnon and Shirley Lindenbaum

2:

Ronald Bayer, in collaboration with Mark Smith

3:

Mark Smith, in collaboration with Deborah Cotton and Jeff Stryker

4:

Deborah Cotton and Allan Brandt

5:

Albert Jonsen and Earl Shelp

6:

Jeff Stryker, Mark Smith, and Earl Shelp

7:

Jeff Stryker

8:

David Chambers, in collaboration with Shirley Lindenbaum

9:

John Gagnon and Shirley Lindenbaum, in collaboration with Albert Jonsen, Jeff Stryker, and James Trussell

The panel benefited from the collaboration and the advice of many scholars and other people deeply involved in the HIV/AIDS epidemic (see Appendix B). We wish to thank all of them for their generous help.

The panel appreciates the hard work of the staff of the National Research Council. They were indispensable to the administration, research, and editing that went into this report. We thank Charles F. Turner, who was the parent committee's study director, and Jeff Stryker, the panel study director. Heather G. Miller and Susan L. Coyle of the committee staff provided helpful research assistance in the first phase of the panel's activities. Kirsten Johnson and Tracy Brandt were most efficient research and administrative assistants. In the final drafting of the report, Elaine McGarraugh coordinated everyone else as well as managing innumerable manuscript drafts. Eugenia Grohman and consultant Jean Shirhall were excellent editors, and Susanne Stoiber oversaw the completion of the panel's work. On behalf of the panel, I express my sincere gratitude for the staff's work.

Albert R. Jonsen, Chair

Panel on Monitoring the Social Impact of the AIDS Epidemic