Gay Men of Color Fellowships in Biomedical HIV Prevention Announced

The Gay Men of Color Fellowship in Biomedical HIV Prevention trains 20 gay men of color recruited from the targeted 48 counties in the federal plan to end HIV to become educators and advocates for Biomedical HIV prevention in their communities. The fellows will participate in four educational video conferences, and trainings at the 2019 United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) and 2019 Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit, then train their respective communities using the information they learned. The overall program goal is to increase literacy related to biomedical HIV prevention and policy.

Thanks to Gilead for their support of this fellowship program.

Adrian Aguilar
McAllen, TX
Adrian Aguilar began his career by educating his local community on environmental issues and working as an activist in a local Stonewall chapter, starting as a member at large and ending as President. He organized town houses to see which local politicians support the LGBTQ community and if they measured up to the chapters’ ideals. For the past three years, Adrian has worked for the Valley AIDS Council as a risk reduction specialist applying intersectionality and open dialogue to serve his community.

 

Brandon Harrison
Los Angeles County
Brandon Harrison is a Project Manager and Trainer on the Performance Improvement team at the Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC). Brandon provides training and technical assistance to health care organizations across the country. He has served in leadership positions implementing sexual health programs across the country in communities most impacted by health disparities. Throughout Brandon’s career, he has been diligent in raising awareness to issues such as stigma, HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ issues, violence, sex work and other issues affecting vulnerable communities. Brandon remains a leader, supporter, and role model encouraging others to continue their resilience.

 

Bryon Buck, MPH
Jackson, Mississippi
Bryon Buck serves as a Researcher III in the School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He has worked in the HIV and STI Prevention field since 2014. Bryon received his MPH from Jackson State University in 2011 and is pursuing his DrPH under the concentration of Health Behavior, Education, and Health Promotion.

 

 

Charles (Jah’Mar)Pettiford 

Nashville, TN

Charles (Jah’Mar) Pettiford has five years of experience as a leading wellness planner to ending the HIV epidemic. Jah’Mar works at Meharry Medical College in the Department of Internal Medicine as a Prevention Coordinator where he has supervised outreach events, EIS services, PrEP navigation, referrals, and capacity building around addressing stigma against HIV/AIDS within the community. He is also a National Ambassador for the Greater Than AIDS campaign – Let’s Talk about HIV Treatment. He has overseen HIV testing events, community trainings, PrEP summits as well as assisted Georgia with its first PrEP Institute

 

Denovan Mejia

New York, NY (Queens County)
Denovan Mejia is a Honduran currently living in New York. He works for the Latino Commission on AIDS/Oasis Latino LGBTS Wellness Center as a program manager. He has been working on prevention for about five years. His program focus is on educating and linking people to PreP and PEP.

 

 

Dustin B. Baker

Los Angeles County 

Dustin Baker-HolleyDustin Baker is a native of East Orange, New Jersey and a graduate of Ramapo College of New Jersey. He moved to Washington DC to attend Howard University School of Divinity in 2008. Dustin served as Capacity Building Program Coordinator at NMAC. In this role Dustin provided technical assistance to local and regional non-profit organizations. Prior to NMAC, Dustin has worked in programming that provided direct care to underserved communities affected and effected by HIV/AIDS.

 

Frank Julca 

New York, New York
Frank Julca is a Peruvian-Born Sexual Health Counselor currently working at the Latino Commission on AIDS as HIV Counseling, Testing and Referral Specialist as part of CDC PS 15-1502 grant. He completed his bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Baruch College, and after interning with the Commission for a semester, he became part of their CBA Department as a Research and Evaluation Assistant. He then transitioned to OASIS Wellness Center, where he serves a primarily MSM population alongside the Access to Care team.

 

Gabriel (Gabe) Bautista

Honolulu, Hawai’i

Gabriel (Gabe) Bautista was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai`i. He is an MSM Outreach Worker for Hawai`i Health and Harm Reduction Center, the new chapter of Life Foundation and The CHOW Project since 2018. Gabe is in the prevention department providing support, referrals, resources and information to people living with HIV and their partners. He does HIV testing and linkage to care. He is very passionate about his work with clients and takes personal investment of continuing support for those he encounters.

 

Gjvar Payne

East Baton Rouge Parish

Gjvar Payne has worked with the Capitol Area Reentry Program Inc., since June 2010 as a Patient Health Navigator. Gjvar has also worked with the LGBTQ community in founding a discussion group called Out of the Box to address the holistic health needs for the community. This group was an instrumental part in obtaining the CDC funded Gay Men’s Wellness Center in Baton Rouge. Gjvar currently serves as Chairman of the Baton Rouge TGA Ryan White Advisory Council, member of the Louisiana Tobacco Free Living Advisory Council, and Baton Rouge Wellness center advisory council.

 

Harlan Pruden

British Columbia

Harlan Pruden is a first Nation Cree. He works with and for the Two-Spirit community locally, nationally and internationally. Harlan is a Ph.D student at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and an Educator at the British Columbia (BC) Center for Disease Control’s Chee Mamuk program. Harlan is also the Managing Editor of the TwoSpiritJournal.com.

 

 

Jimmy Quach

San Francisco County
Jimmy Quach is a Prevention Project Coordinator for Project Ohana in the Bay with Asian American Recovery Services (AARS/HR360). He received a B.A in Psychology from San Jose State University in 2012. After graduating, he began working with AARS on a federally-funded prevention project, implementing CBT and MET in his facilitation as a project assistant. His team successfully completed two SAMHSA projects in 2015 with a retention rate of about 80% – 85% to 99% of the number of participant needed for each project cohort. His team published and presented three research posters at the American Public Health Association in 2015.

 

Jorian Veintidos

Philadelphia County 

Jorian Veintidos was born and raised in Philadelphia. He is an advocate for destigmatizing HIV and youth leadership. In the short amount of time in the field, he became part of a storytelling photograph project, The Gran Varones. He is one of the faces for Galaei’s citywide campaign, Positivo which seeks to eliminate the stigma around Gay Latino and HIV related issues, through highlighting stories, community members and spirit that embodies acceptance, pride, family, respect, beauty, and resilience. In 2016, Jorian became NYHAAD’s ambassador and Youth Resource Fellow from Advocates for Youth in Washington D.C. Later that year, he received the 2016 Dale L. Grundy Youth Leader Recipient from the University of Pennsylvania’s CFAR CAB’s 13th Annual Red Ribbon Awards.

 

José Ramon Garcia Madrid 

Maricopa County 
Arizona
Jose Ramon Garcia Madrid was born in San Buenaventura, Chihuahua, Mexico, and immigrated to the United States with his family at two years old. Growing up as a part of the undocumented immigrant community in Phoenix, Arizona is an experience that continues to inspire José’s personal and professional life. He is equally committed to work that empowers Black, Latinx and Indigenous communities who identify within LGB, Trans, Queer and Gender Non-Conforming communities.

 

José A. Romero

Durham, NC 

Jose Romero is a bilingual consultant, cultural organizer, and independent researcher living in Durham, NC. He is a graduate of the University of the Pennsylvania and the first in his family born in the “US” to working-class immigrants from Morazán, El Salvador and Michoacán, Mexico. He is the Director of Encuentro for the Latino Commission on AIDS’ inaugural Southern Gathering, an Arts & Culture Fellow for Southerners on New Ground, a Gran Varones Digital Art Fellow, a member of Durham’s first Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee, and has collaborated on several immigrant defense and abolitionist campaigns across the South.

 

Kekoa Kealoha

Kailua Kona, HI

Kekoa Kealoha is the PrEP Navigator for the Hawai’i Island HIV AIDS Foundation. As a Native Hawaiian gay man, he feels strongly about the many intersecting issues that affect his community. He is an advocate for HIV care and prevention, LGBT rights, equitable healthcare access, and social justice. He serves on several levels, including the Hawai’i Statewide PrEP Working Group Leadership Committee, the Hawai’i Community Planning Group “Zero Stigma” Subcommittee to develop the statewide Getting To Zero initiative, Ka Aha Mahu (Transgender Leadership Group), NMAC’s Native Hawaiian Constituent Advisory Panel, and other community groups. He is passionate about helping marginalized and disenfranchised communities achieve health, happiness, and harmony.

 

Mark Anthony Hughes

Indianapolis, IN (Marion County) 

Mark Anthony Hughes tested positive in 1995 and has worked to improve the lives of those living with HIV/AIDS and to prevent transmission. He is the (3MV) Many Men Many Voices prevention coordinator at Brothers United, where he discusses cultural and social factors in HIV and STI transmission with a group of men ages 25 and older.  He helps those most vulnerable to HIV, especially Black men and women and mentors those newly diagnosed with HIV, offering a friendly ear or a ride to medical appointment and advocate for them. He helped organize the first Indiana HIV Advocacy Day at the statehouse. Throughout his advocacy he’s made it a priority to include the experiences and perspectives of people or color living with HIV.

 

Mike Gutierrez

Chicago, IL (Cook County)

Mike Gutierrez is a MexIRican Agent of Change. For the past ten years, he has worked in the healthcare and social services sectors as a HIV/STI Tester and Counselor, a PCC/Couples Counselor, Crisis Intervention Specialist, Medical Advocate, Education Prevention Advocate, and a Facilitator for an Abuse Intervention Program for those who caused harm in the form of domestic violence. Currently, he is a Ryan White Part C Medical Case Manager at the largest LGBTQ agency in the Midwest. He is passionate about working with the LGBTQ community, survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, and the Latinx community. Through community organization and advocacy, his goal is to incite change and give a voice to the marginalized communities we dedicate ourselves to helping.

 

Percival Pandy

Los Angeles County 

Percival Pandy was born and raised in Southern California. Percival is a Program Supervisor South LA for the Los Angeles LGBT Center. For the last six years he has worked with the Black and Latinx communities attempting to lower the rates of HIV amongst young people in Los Angeles. Percival also maintains the position of co-chair for the Connect to Protect Coalition of Los Angeles which convenes to address the needs of at-risk LGBT youth in the county by fostering partnerships between ASOs, CBOs, shelters, and drop in centers. During his time in public health, Percival, with the help of the coalition has developed “Dress for Success” a pop-up shop that helps to remove the shame and stigma for youth who are homeless and/or impoverished to access professional clothing for interviews.

 

Steven Tamayo

Austin, TX (Travis County) 

Steven Tamayo is from Austin, TX. He graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Social Work in 2014. He has worked in HIV prevention since 2015, working previously with The Q Austin, an Mpowerment program of AIDS Services of Austin, and now most recently with Texas Health Action’s The Kind Clinic. His experience ranges from outreach and testing to education and group facilitation.

 

Wally Soto

Puerto Rico (San Juan Municipio) 

Wally Soto lives in Puerto Rico and is 43 years old. He earned his degree in psychology and has been a tattoo artist for the last 7 years. He has also worked with Coai, Inc. for 10 years in the Aché TOP program (Taking on Prevention) with LatinX MSM and collaborating with other organizations such as the health department of Puerto Rico. He oversees testing for HIV and linkage to care. He is passionate about health and art.