💚 ❤️ 💛 🖤Honoring National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day & Black History Month ✊🏾

Let’s be real, Black people are still bearing the weight of HIV at rates no one else is, and too often the world talks about us like we’re statistics instead of human beings. National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD) isn’t a feel-good hashtag or a moment to nod politely. It’s a demand to center Black voices, call out the systems that fail us, and fight for care, prevention, and policies that actually work. No empty words. No “resilience” pat on the back. This is about justice, equity, and truth for the people living it every single day.

Here’s how I’ve been showing up in community lately🎉


💬 Columbia University School of Social Work
I recently guest lectured in Dr. L A McCrae ’s class on trauma and substance use. My lecture, Adaptive Logic of Survival: Trauma, Substance Use, and the Body as Historian – Chem Sex, Risk, and Resilience Among Black Women,includes the word “resilience” in the title, but in the session I unpacked why this label is often misapplied. Too often, calling communities “resilient” masks the oppressive systems that put people in harm’s way and shifts attention away from the structural changes we actually need. The conversation was dynamic, and I’ve been invited back to continue the dialogue on Health Equity and the Social Determinants of Substance Use next month.

🎓 The National Association for Doctors of Public Health
I participated in the webinar Part 1: Is the DrPH Right for You? with my rockstar co-presenters Kristi James DrPH(c), MPH, CHES and Jamie Felicitas-Perkins. We explored what a DrPH prepares you to do, who it is for, and how it differs from PhD and MPH programs.

🗓 Coming Up: The National Association for Doctors of Public Health – Part 3: Life After the DrPH
I will be moderating a session on careers, leadership, and leveraging the DrPH beyond graduation with an incredible panel of DrPH leaders: Morgan Foster, DrPH, MPH, CHES, Emmanuel Benyeogor, John Pateña, DrPH, MPH, MA, Laura T. Housman, DrPH, MBA, MPH, Tala Zoukari, DrPH, MPH, and Toni Nettles Thompson, DrPH, MPH, CLC

🌟 Looking Ahead: NMAC 2026 Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit
I am excited to present alongside my fearless co-conspirator Destiny Pearson in the workshop PrEP for Me: Centering Young Black and Latina Women in Sexual Health Equity in Chicago this April!!!

NBHAAD is a reminder that centering Black voices, addressing structural inequities, and keeping people affected by HIV at the heart of our work is not optional, it's essential. Today, and every day, let’s commit to health equity, culturally responsive care, and Black leadership in public health. 💚 ❤️ 💛 🖤

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