By Ralph Derickson

Sonja Feist-Price is being recognized by the National Council on Rehabilitation Education for her work in developing a community-based HIV prevention program for adolescent females in Louisville's housing developments and a school-based HIV prevention program for adolescents in South Africa.

Feb. 6, 2002 (Lexington, Ky.) -- Sonja Feist-Price, an associate professor in the University of Kentucky College of Education's Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling, has been named 2001 "Researcher of the Year" by the National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE).

The NCRE said it is giving the award to Feist-Price in recognition of her work in developing a community-based HIV prevention program for adolescent females in Louisville's housing developments and a school-based HIV prevention program for adolescents in South Africa.

The NCRE, headquartered at the University of California at Fresno, is dedicated to improving rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities through quality education and rehabilitation research.

Feist-Price is a member of an international HIV prevention research team at the University of Kentucky that is working on the development of interventions designed to prevent the spread of HIV infection.

"So much of rehabilitation tends to focus on working with people after something disabling has occurred," Feist-Price said. "My work, as part of this research team, is to intervene before a person becomes infected or debilitated in some way," she added.

The award will be presented to Feist-Price at the NCRE annual conference on Feb. 15, 2002, in Tucson, Ariz.