National Minority AIDS Council Building Healthier Communities

Frank Oldham is a seasoned, passionate and talented leader in HIV/AIDS and public health. He currently leads a dynamic movement of people living with HIV/AIDS as the Executive Director of the National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA-US). Oldham’s nearly two decades of HIV/AIDS service and his personal commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS led to his selection NAPWA’s Executive Director.

Oldham is the immediate past Executive Director of Harlem Directors Group where he worked on behalf of a community with the highest AIDS death rate in New York.

Oldham was the Citywide Coordinator for AIDS Policy for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Administration where he championed the largest Ryan White award in the history of the Ryan White CARE Act for New York. He was also the executive director of Horizons Community Services in Chicago and the managing director of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center. Oldham was the Assistant Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health Division on STD/HIV/AIDS Public Policy and Programs and the Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of HIV Program Services for the New York City Department of Health. Frank has demonstrated a commitment to all diverse communities affected by HIV/AIDS through his long standing AIDS history spanning over 20 years. Though a New York native Frank J. Oldham Jr. in the early '90s, he served under then-Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly as chief of the district's Agency for HIV/AIDS.

Among his numerous achievements not to mention awards; The Faces of AIDS project was launched at the end of 1999 as a means to combat the growing sentiment among the general public that "AIDS is over." The Chicago Department of Public Health's HIV division, under the leadership of Frank Oldham, Jr., saw the value in sharing people's personal stories as an effective means to dispel that myth and increase awareness of the issues surrounding HIV. Through its two books and touring photo exhibit, The Faces of AIDS documents the compelling stories of people who are living and thriving in a new and different era of the AIDS epidemic -- an era that is less about death and more about life. The stories honor people who continue to work, play, love and courageously live their lives in the face of arduous medical regimens, uncertain financial futures, isolation and widespread discrimination.

Oldham Jr. has served and is currently serving on several planning and other policy bodies including HIV Health and Human Planning Council of New York, Cathedral Community Cares of the Cathedral Church New York City Office of AIDS Policy Coordination, New York City Commission on AIDS, AIDS Action Council CAEAR Coalition, NMAC, CDC five year strategic planning committee, LAMBADA Legal Defence Education, Lesbian and Gay Community Services, Aids Action Council Washington, DC.

Frank is formally trained in political science, culture and policy, he attended Adelphi University where he studied political science, New York University where he received a Bachelor of Arts in English. He also attended Columbia University and State University of New York where he studied film, culture and policy respectively.