Awards of Courage Sister Mary Elisabeth, OSM Honoring with Pride
2003 Honoree Sister Mary Elizabeth knew when she was eight years
old that she wanted to be a nun. That early focus eventually led
her to create the AIDS Education Global Information System
(AEGiS). In addition to providing a vast database, or
“knowledgebase,” of news and information about the history,
treatment, and prevention of HIV/AIDS, AEGiS is also an online
bulletin board system that enables people affected by HIV/AIDS
to connect with each other. Sister Mary Elizabeth launched AEGiS
in 1990 after a stay in a small Midwest farm community where she
met several people living with AIDS. They were profoundly
isolated by their illness, by parochial fear and ignorance about
HIV/AIDS, and by geography. In their need, she saw a way to put
her technical skills to a spiritual use by making HIV/AIDS
information and other online resources easily accessible. Since
then, she has made the website her life’s work, building AEGiS
into a service the Centers