Atlanta AIDS Specialist Dr. Eimear Kennedy Dead at 50
Dr. Eimear Kennedy, an expert on infectious diseases and one of the first Atlanta-area physicians to join the fight against AIDS, died Sunday of breast cancer at age 50, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Kennedy held supervisory posts at Atlanta's Northside Hospital and St. Joseph's Hospital, where she specialized in infectious diseases. She previously served as the medical director of Haven House -- one of the first hospices established for HIV/AIDS patients in Atlanta -- according to Angelle Vuchetich, clinic program manager of Grady Memorial Hospital's Ponce de Leon Center. "Eimear got involved in the struggle against AIDS in 1989 when most doctors shied away from it," Vuchetich said, adding, "She felt a calling to fight against what became an epidemic." Born in Ireland, Kennedy came to Atlanta first as a medical resident at Emory University Hospital and then as an associate at Grady, where she began working with HIV/AIDS patients, the Journal-Constitution reports (Geshwiller, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/23).
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