[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 172 (Sunday, November 23, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2425-E2426]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN RECOGNITION OF L. JOEL MARTINEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. CHRIS BELL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 21, 2003

  Mr. BELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life of L. Joel Martinez, 
a nationally known AIDS activist who died Wednesday, November 12, 2003. 
Mr. Martinez was the founding director of the Center for AIDS, a 
Houston-based clearinghouse for treatment and research information. The 
center was founded in 1995 to address the lack of treatment and 
research information available to the public.
  Joel Martinez had a profound effect on the way pharmaceutical 
companies developed their drugs and the way they looked at issues 
relating to people with HIV and AIDS. He met with companies to help 
change the guidelines for clinical trials and encouraged them to do 
research and testing in Houston. He urged companies to test drugs not 
just on gay, white males, but also on minorities, women and children.
  He was an excellent and articulate spokesperson for people with HIV 
and AIDS and a true leader in treatment advocacy issues. Mr. Martinez 
was a community representative for amFAR and the AIDS Clinical Trials 
Group.

[[Page E2426]]

He also was a voting member of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration 
advisory committee that influenced the way the agency reviews drugs 
during the approval process.
  Most recently, he was involved in the AIDS Treatment Activists 
Coalition, a national coalition of activists working to end HIV and 
AIDS by advancing research.
  Mr. Martinez was born in Harlingen, Texas in 1953 to Luis and Teresa 
Martinez. He was salutatorian of the class of 1970 at Brownsville High 
School. A Rice University graduate, he earned a law degree from the 
Columbia University School of Law in New York in 1977.
  He was an associate at Vinson & Elkins for six years before going 
into private practice in 1983. He re-evaluated his life after he was 
diagnosed with HIV in 1987. In the early 1990s, the focus of public 
information on HIV and AIDS was on prevention and not on treatment and 
research. Mr. Martinez set about to improve public information by 
making numerous presentations on HIV and AIDS and by writing many 
articles in English and Spanish on research and treatment of the 
disease. His significant influence on HIV and AIDS research and 
treatment helped so many people affected by the disease.
  I know my colleagues join me in honoring Joel Martinez for his 
exceptional life and passionate activism. I extend my heartfelt 
condolences to his family and friends especially to Vann Vaughan, his 
life partner of twenty-two years, his mother Teresa, his sisters 
Rebecca and Zoe, and his brother Harry. Joel Martinez was a great 
American who fought tirelessly for those in need. His important work 
must continue until a cure for HIV and AIDS is found.

                          ____________________