ANN ARBOR—Against the backdrop of music performed by Ugandan children orphaned by AIDS and war, a well-known HIV scientist will discuss the science and ethics of offering treatment to those infected with the virus that causes AIDS. Resource-poor countries face difficult questions about whether to provide treatment for HIV, especially to HIV-positive pregnant women. Treatment gives their children a chance to live, but their mothers will likely die and leave the children orphaned.

At a time when it is increasingly clear that the life sciences are changing everything about the way we live and work, University of Michigan will use two upcoming University Musical Society performances as the springboard to illustrate the degree to which the arts provide a context for a richer, more nuanced understanding of the life sciences. One program examines the AIDS epidemic in Africa, and the other deals with what science suggests about the relationship between President Thomas Jefferson and slave Sally Hemings.

Tied to a show by the Children of Uganda, keynote panelist Vinh-Kim Nguyen, physician and anthropologist at McGill University, will participate in a discussion titled “AIDS in Africa,” 3-5:30 p.m., Feb. 7 in the Vandenberg Room of the Michigan League. A brief appearance by the Children of Uganda Choir will be featured.

In a talk titled “Globalization and Biopolitics: Antiretroviral HIV Therapy and Biosocial Change in West Africa,” Nguyen will discuss one of the most important breakthroughs since the AIDS epidemic began ravaging Africa, the availability of drugs to prevent HIV transmission from pregnant women to their infants. The talk will examine the related social issues, including the challenges facing resource-poor countries about whether to provide antiretroviral drugs to halt the AIDS epidemic when there are many other urgent competing health needs.

Also participating will be Frank Katoola, choreographer and director of Children of Uganda, and Alexis Hefley, president and executive director of the Uganda Children’s Charity Foundation.

The Children of Uganda, a group of 18 orphans who serve as ambassadors for the 1.4 million children living in Uganda as orphans by AIDS and war, will present African music and dance 7 p.m. Feb. 8 and 8 p.m. Feb. 9 in the Power Center for the Performing Arts.

Eugene Foster, the University of Virginia pathologist who used DNA analysis to study the paternity of Sally Hemings’ children, will present “The Double Helix of Science and History” as a companion piece to the University Musical Society performance of “From the Diary of Sally Hemings.” The performance is a fictional account of the life of Sally Hemings, composed by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom, a professor of music at U-M.

Foster’s talk is planned for 4-5:30 p.m. Feb. 13 in the Ford Amphitheater at University Hospital as the inaugural Horace P. Davenport Lecture on the History of Health, Disease and Society. Martha Jones, assistant professor of Afroamerican and African studies, and of history, will offer commentary.

Foster rose to national attention after his article, “Jefferson Fathered Slave’s Last Child,” was published in the journal Nature. Some researchers have challenged the findings, prompting discussions of how new biological techniques affect not just medicine and health but our understanding of history. A research committee commissioned by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation issued a report in 2000 indicating a high probability that Jefferson fathered Eston Hemings, and perhaps all six of Hemings’ children.

Performances of “From the Diary of Sally Hemings” are scheduled for 8 p.m. Feb. 13 and 4 p.m. Feb. 17 at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater, located in the Michigan League.

Both events are part of a series called “Health, Arts and the Human Condition,” sponsored by the Life Sciences, Values and Society Program, the Historical Center for the Health Sciences, and the Gifts of Art Program. They are planned in conjunction with Black History Month.

Additional sponsorship for the AIDS in Africa discussion comes from the Medical Students International Health Task Force, as well as the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies, the International Institute, the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Student Council, Black Medical Association, the Center for World Performance and UMS.

Sponsors for the Hemings talk also include the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies, the Rackham School of Graduate Studies, the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, Science, Technology and Society Program, and the University Musical Society.

The Office of the President provides support for UMS’ educational programming.

For more information on the UMS performances, visit http://www.ums.org/index.htm

To learn about the life sciences at Michigan, a major initiative building on a long tradition of ground-breaking advancements through major investments in new facilities and faculty: http://www.lifesciences.umich.edu/

The Historical Center for the Health Sciences is a unit of the U-M Medical School devoted to the study of the history of medicine in American society: www.med.umich.edu/HCHS/