Andrew Beckett is a young up-and-coming lawyer who has just been fired by his prestigious law firm. His former colleagues claim he's just not good enough; Andrew says he's been fired because he has AIDS. Determined to defend his professional reputation; Andrew hires fierce personal-injury attorney Joe Miller to represent him as he sues his former firm for wrongful termination. Separated from Andrew by a deep social and cultural chasm, Joe is initially reluctant to take the case. For Andrew the battle is clear cut--he's fighting for his reputation, his life and for justice. Joe, however, faces a different kind of struggle as he confronts his own fears and prejudices about homosexuals. Bruce Springsteen won the Golden Globe for the best original song and Tom Hanks won the best actor Academy and Golden Globe awards.

About the speaker: Dr. Wilbert Jordan is the founder of Los Angeles’s OASIS Clinic. Even his secretary, Carolyn Ledford, sometimes has trouble reaching him because of his extremely hectic schedule. In addition to directing OASIS, he also puts in one day a week at its companion Early Intervention Program, serves as chair of the Standards of Care Committee of the HIV Commission of Los Angeles County and frequently gives lectures and presentations outside of his home base.

Born in Arkansas, Dr. Jordan attended Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and his M.D. from Case Western Reserve University. After completing several residencies and internships, he also received a Master’s in Public Health from UCLA, where he concentrated on Health Services Research.

Although he taught at Howard University and UCLA and briefly had a private practice, Dr. Jordan has been primarily associated with the King/Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, where OASIS is based, for over 30 years. He began his employment there as Director of the Office of Quality Assurance in 1977, and in 1987 became Director of the Drew Center’s AIDS Research program. He also teaches Internal Medicine and Family Practice at the center’s University of Medicine and Science, where he served as a member of the Admissions Committee.

Dr. Jordan has been involved with HIV/AIDS research and prevention almost since the beginning of the epidemic in the early 1980s. Since 1984, when he chaired the AIDS Task Force, he has served on the board of numerous AIDS-related organizations including the Minority AIDS Project, the Los Angeles County Commission on AIDS, Governor’s Task Force on AIDS and the State of California AIDS Drug Formulary Committee. He has also given lectures on HIV/AIDS at many California hospitals as well as conferences of the National Association of Minority Medical Educators and Physicians Association for AIDS Care.

And his efforts have not gone unnoticed by the medical community. He has earned two Physician Recognition Awards and two honorary awards from the National Association for Minority Medical Education, and last year was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. The Los Angeles Sentinel named him “Man of the Year” and “Physician of the Year” in 1992, a designation he has also received from other organizations such as the Sigma Rho Nursing Sorority and the Student National Medical Association. He has also received grants from the American Medical Association’s Congress on Medical Education, the California Community Foundation and Ely Lilly, to name just a few.