music: 2000 Dr. Joseph Sonnabend. Nostalgic   (1 out 6 pieces ).  Piano: Neil Georgeson

“I call them patients, but they’re friends really. It’s hard for me to draw the line. Being Jewish I think I’ve got a strong sense of community, of looking after one’s own. And having spent most of my life as a researcher I never acquired the doctor’s ability to stay detached. There’s no way of switching off from death and misery.” --Joseph Sonnabend “A Day In The Life of Joe Sonnabend.”  The Sunday Times Magazine, July 19, 1992 1

​

It’s difficult to relate the way in which a community coheres in relation to death and misery. It’s even more difficult to reflect on the loss of that particular community feeling. The recounting of the history of early AIDS activism always includes descriptions of deep and intense bonds that point to a shared set of values and beliefs. When there is even more life than could have been imagined in the first decade of the epidemic however, the loss of that feeling in common cannot help but color how we narrate and  experience historical accomplishments.

 

Joe Sonnabend exemplified the community values that formed in the crucible of the crisis. Joe was a laboratory scientist who pioneered the concept of creating research trials of AIDS therapeutic treatments in collaboration with those who were affected by the disease and he advocated for training treating physicians to accurately conduct the trials and collect data. Advocacy transformed into that idea a reality when Joe co-founded CRIA, the Community Research Initiative located in New York City, an institution that coordinated and  conducted community-based clinical trials in order to expedite new treatments and while doing so,  provide expanded access to promising but unapproved medication. Joe co-founded AmFAR (the American Foundation for AIDS Research)  in 1984 with his patient, Michael Callen ,and with his colleague, Dr. Mathilda Krim, the first private organization to provide funding for AIDS scientific and medical research. And Joe co-founded the HIV/AIDS treatment buyers club, The PWA Health Group in 1987, which imported and sold promising experimental HIV/AIDS treatments not yet approved in the United States. In addition, Joe maintained an overflowing medical practice in the West Village, entrusted with the health of hundreds of PWAs. 

 

When asked why he did all he did, Joe replied that he viewed himself as “a community activist and a sexually active gay man.” 2  As an active participant in queer sexual culture, Joe used his professional skills to end a crisis that affected his own life and his community. He was beloved by his patients, treating each and every one respectfully for they were friends. But at times, Joe struggled to promote his brilliant insights --  like the  prevention of HIV/AIDS through the practice of safer sex or the prevention of HIV-related opportunistic infections through prophylaxis treatments. His patient/friends recognized that struggle and  took it upon themselves to partner with him.  After his AIDS diagnosis, Michael Callen dedicated his life in support of Joe, articulating and publicizing his work and ideas. What is left unspoken in the decades since is how Joe’s unwavering dedication to ending the AIDS crisis and the trauma of experiencing the deaths of over three hundred patient/friends had long-lasting consequences. In an interview with – Joe reflected that “all these involvements have been intertwined over time and it has been burdensome.” 3

 

When Joe moved to New York, he bought a grand piano on installment payments, for Joe never prospered financially either from his research or his medical practice. For decades, just before he began his day (and night) of work, he played piano to calm himself. “Just “a few pages of music --- something romantic usually, or a bit of Bach.” Upon his return to the UK in 2005, Joe played more and he composed classical music.  To remember Joe fully we would need to acknowledge how, at times, we may have failed to support him.  Maybe listening to the sonatas he composed might help us reflect on that and remind us of the need to ground ourselves in the complexities of AIDS activist history so we might better compose our future work in accordance with Joe’s ideals.

​

1 https://briandeer.com/joseph-sonnabend.htm

2 https://issuu.com/witsalumnirelations/docs/wits_review__april_2021_issuu/s/12021032

3 https://issuu.com/witsalumnirelations/docs/wits_review__april_2021_issuu/s/12021032