Ryan White

Ryan White was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who contracted HIV through contaminated blood products while treating his hemophilia and became a national advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness after being barred from school due to his diagnosis. His courageous fight against discrimination helped change public perceptions of the disease and led to the passage of the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides health care resources to uninsured Americans with HIV/AIDS. He died in 1990 at age 18, one month before his high school graduation.