UCSF Team Takes Third Place in AIDS Walk San Francisco

UCSF collectively raised nearly $55,000 in AIDS Walk San Francisco this year, finishing in third place behind two other San Francisco institutions: Gap Inc. and Levi Strauss & Co.

See the list of the top 20 fundraising teams on the AIDS Walk San Francisco website. 

Members of the UCSF team celebrated their accomplishment at an afternoon reception on the pink balcony at the Rutter Center at UCSF Mission Bay on Wednesday. Representatives of AIDS Walk Foundation, including Craig Miller, founder and producer of AIDS Walk San Francisco, attended the reception to congratulate UCSF on its ongoing participation in the event, which raised more than $3 million on July 17. 

This is an important year in the history of HIV/AIDS, which has resulted in the deaths of 33 million people worldwide. During the past 30 years since the virus was first reported in the US, UCSF's scientists and health care professionals have played a historic role in fighting the disease through groundbreaking research and patient care that continues today. UCSF's past and present efforts combatting the disease are chronicled in a special AIDS web package. 

And it's been 25 years since Miller rallied the community to take to the streets for the first AIDS Walk San Francisco in 1987. Back then, more than 6,000 people raised an astounding $667,000 at a time when the nation at large seemed inattentive to the looming crisis.

For the second year in a row, the UCSF Global Health Sciences team, led by captain Robert Mansfield, raised the most money in the University's friendly competition across campus. The Global Health Sciences team raised almost $10,000. Mansfield – who himself brought in $2,825 – again accepted the UCSF AIDS Walk Trophy, which will be engraved with the winning team's name and will be returned to the Global Health Sciences lobby on display for all to see at its Laurel Heights office.

"This is such an important event, especially for UCSF," Mansfield said. "Our doctors have been at the forefront of this fight since the beginning of the epidemic, and we were honored to have pioneering AIDS physician Paul Volberding on our team. Global Health Sciences' victory was a true team effort and we are thrilled to be a part of this record-breaking accomplishment."

Jennifer Mannix, co-chair of the UCSF AIDS Walk Steering Committee, said all those who contributed time, money and talent to AIDS Walk San Francisco should feel proud of UCSF's third-place finish in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"The UCSF AIDS Walk Steering Committee had set a goal of raising $50,000 and we are delighted to have surpassed that goal and to move up in the ranks of the top 10 fundraising teams," said Mannix, manager of Arts and Events for Campus Life Services. "We want to thank UCSF for continuing to show its community support and to all of those who walked, volunteered and raised money for this year's AIDS Walk." 

Top UCSF AIDS Walk Fundraising Teams

Global Health Sciences - $9,969.00 
School of Medicine - $8,027.00 
UCSF - $7,089.00 
Neurology Department - $6,335.65
GME Residents and Fellows - $4,865.00 
School of Dentistry - $4,648.00 
Campus Life Services - $4,510.00 
Positive Health Program - $3,241.00 
School of Pharmacy - $2,740.00 
Pediatrics - $1,795.00
LGBTs @ UCSF - $1,090 
Graduate Division - $555.00 
360 Positive Care Center - $75.00 
Bixby Center - $25.00
San Francisco General Hospital - $20.00

Top UCSF Individual Fundraisers

Terri Sonoda - $3,179.00
Paul Day - $2,895.00 
Robert Mansfield - $2,825.00
Emily Huang - $2,270.00
Edgar Micua - $2,245.00 

Photos by Susan Merrell