Project Runway Alumni Debuts Living Positive By Design Campaign

On Monday, "Project Runway" alumni Jack Mackenroth debuted an HIV and AIDS education campaign called Living Positive By Design, in New York, at the Gay Men's Health Crisis Fashion Forward event.

At Fashion Forward, Jack unveiled a signature campaign scarf and addressed attendees regarding the campaign. The Living Positive By Design campaign, a sponsor of Fashion Forward, seeks to help combat the stigma associated with HIV by engaging people in conversation about the condition and is being supported by pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck & Co., Inc. Merck is the maker of Isentress, a treatment for HIV.

Prior to the event, Mackenroth released this statement. "I am excited to be nationally launching Living Positive By Design in partnership with organizations that are committed to improving the lives of people living with HIV and to be debuting the signature campaign scarf I created," said Mackenroth. "Through Living Positive By Design, I will be speaking about my experiences living with HIV for nearly 20 years, addressing the stigma still associated with the disease and highlighting the importance for people living with HIV to have a positive outlook on life while effectively managing their disease." All attendees of the event, held at Skylight Studios, received a signature Living Positive By Design scarf, to symbolize the campaign's goals of combating stigma and encouraging those people living with HIV to have a positive outlook on life, while effectively managing their disease.

Jack is also partnering with expert physician Dr. Martin Markowitz, clinical director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York, NY, for the national launch of Living Positive By Design. "One of the goals of Living Positive By Design is to educate people living with HIV that taking medications to help reduce the amount of virus in the blood to undetectable levels and helping to try restoring their immune system must be some of the priorities for today's disease management," said Dr. Markowitz. "In addition to this, with new advancements in HIV treatment, physicians should also factor in the tolerability of treatment regimens."

Jack recently held Living Positive By Design events in Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Florida at the 2008 United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) and Atlanta, Georgia. He will continue to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS over the next year through events in several cities, including San Francisco and Houston. For additional information on Living Positive By Design and participating cities, please visit: www.LivingPositiveByDesign.com.