Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation - Elizabeth Glaser's Story

Elizabeth Glaser's Story

Elizabeth Glaser (née Elizabeth Meyer) (November 11, 1947 – December 3, 1994) was an American AIDS activist and child advocate. She was married to actor and director Paul Michael Glaser.

Elizabeth contracted HIV in 1981 during the early stages of the AIDS epidemic after receiving a transfusion of contaminated blood while giving birth to her daughter Ariel. Elizabeth unknowingly passed the virus to Ariel and to her son Jake, who was born three years later.

The virus went undetected in all three family members until they underwent HIV testing in 1985, at which time Ariel began suffering from a series of unexplained illnesses. Ariel had developed advanced AIDS at a time when the medical community knew very little about the disease, and there were no available treatment options particularly for children. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved AZT in 1987 as a drug that could extend the lives of AIDS patients, but this approval only extended to adults. Although the Glasers fought to have their daughter treated with AZT intravenously, Ariel died from complications of AIDS in 1988.

In the aftermath of Ariel’s passing – and determined to save her son Jake, as well as to give hope to other HIV-positive children – Elizabeth co-founded the Pediatric AIDS Foundation in 1988 with friends Susan DeLaurentis and Susie Zeegen. Their work raised public awareness about HIV infection in children, and spurred funding for the development of pediatric AIDS drugs as well as research into mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

An advocate for the elimination of pediatric AIDS, Elizabeth became known to audiences nationwide when she was a featured speaker at the 1992 Democratic National Convention. During her speech, she criticized the federal government's underfunding of AIDS research and its lack of initiative in addressing the AIDS crisis. Elizabeth and her family also were profiled in a 1991 edition of People Magazine.

Elizabeth lost her own battle with AIDS in 1994, and the Pediatric AIDS Foundation was renamed the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in her honor shortly thereafter.