The Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington (SPH-B) is pleased to announce that photojournalist Michael A. Schwarz and medical reporter Steve Sternberg, who received multiple prestigious awards for their August 1989 Atlanta Journal-Constitution feature "When AIDS Comes Home: The Life and Death of Tom Fox," are the joint recipients of the 2024 Ryan White Distinguished Leadership Award. Established in 2009 by the school’s Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention (RCAP), the award recognizes individuals who are "exemplary bearers of the standard of excellence and commitment needed to combat HIV/AIDS."
Previous recipients include AIDS Quilt visionary Cleve Jones, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Greg Louganis, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Dr. C. Everett Koop, Dr. James Curran, and Ryan’s mother Jeanne White Ginder.
William L. Yarber, H.S.D.
"Sternberg and Schwarz put a 'human face' on the AIDS epidemic," says William L. Yarber, H.S.D., Indiana University provost professor and senior director of RCAP. "Their pioneering contribution expanded our understanding of the impact and challenges of AIDS—and was published when it was rare for reporters to write about AIDS patients. Their courageous documentation of Tom’s journey is a gift to all of us that will live forever."
"It gives me great pleasure to add my congratulations to Steve Sternberg and Michael A. Schwarz for receiving this award," says Anthony Fauci, M.D., former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and 2021 recipient of the Ryan White Distinguished Leadership Award. "Their groundbreaking piece brilliantly portrays the poignant story of one man’s fight against AIDS and captures the tone of an entire era."
Jeanne White Ginder will present the award to Schwarz and Sternberg, who will have a "fireside chat" with Dr. Yarber during the award ceremony. The event is scheduled for Saturday, December 7 at noon in the Indiana Memorial Union's elegant Tudor Room. It is free and open to the public, and attendees will be treated to lunch.
"It’s humbling and gratifying to be recognized among so many heroes of the AIDS movement, especially Ryan White and Tom Fox," Sternberg says. "It took a mountain of courage for Tom to allow us to chronicle the last year and a half of his life. By the end, we felt as if we had lost a brother—but his story helped turn the tide against indifference and intolerance. And thirty-five years after Tom’s passing, his story lives on."
shortly before his death
Schwarz, a world-renowned photographer whose work has appeared in publications including National Geographic, LIFE, and The Wall Street Journal, says Fox's family insisted that both Schwarz and Sternberg stand with them during Tom's final moments. "I remember crying and shaking as he died, hoping that I could hold the camera steady," he once recalled.
Ryan White, for whom the award is named, was an Indiana teen diagnosed with HIV in 1984 after receiving tainted blood products. He was subsequently banned from public school despite assurance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Indiana State Department of Health that he posed no risk to students and staff. His legal battle to return to school made international news. He died April 8, 1990 at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis at the age of 18.
Established in 1994, RCAP promotes prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in rural America. It has been largely supported through a partnership with the CDC.
To learn more, visit rcap.indiana.edu.