An interview with Ronald O. Valdiserri, MD. Interview by Barry Raine.

Dr. Ronald O. Valdiserri, deputy director of the Division of STD/HIV Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, remembers the reactions he had during the period when his brother Edwin, a psychiatrist, was ill with AIDS. Similar to other periods in the life of these twins, it was a time characterized by intimate and constant communication, frequent phone calls, visits, and voluminous correspondence. For a long period between Edwin's diagnosis and the onset of symptoms, they were the only two persons to know the diagnosis and share its distress. Dr. Valdisseri began writing his book, "Gardening in Clay", during his brother's illness, although most of the book's ideas came right after Edwin's death.