Members & Staff

Members

The Council may have up to 25 members, including the Chair. Members and the chair are selected by the Secretary from authorities with particular expertise in, or knowledge of, matters concerning HIV and AIDS. In addition, the Council includes ex officio members from relevant HHS components as deemed appropriate by the Secretary or designee.

Council members are invited to serve for overlapping terms of up to four years; terms are contingent upon the authorized continuation of the Council. A member can serve after the expiration of their term until their successor has taken office and/or until notified in writing that their term has ended or expired, but no longer than 180 days.

Chairperson
Nancy Mahon, ESQ.

Senior Vice President, M·A·C Cosmetics
Executive Director, M·A·C AIDS Fund

As a senior vice president at M·A·C and Executive Director of the M·A·C AIDS Fund, Nancy serves as a member of the brand’s senior management team while overseeing the strategic direction and day-to-day operation of the M·A·C AIDS Fund. Under Nancy’s leadership, the Fund has further refined and enhanced its giving, taking on larger grant initiatives including the Caribbean Initiative, while at the same time continuing to fund the grassroots service-based charities that the Fund has supported in the past. Currently, the Fund gives away over $18 million annually throughout the world particularly the 65 countries in which M·A·C has affiliates.

Prior to joining M·A·C in June 2006, Nancy was Executive Director of God’s Love We Deliver (GLWD), the nation’s oldest and largest provider of life-sustaining nutritional support services for people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses. Under Nancy’s leadership, GLWD expanded its mission, doubled its client numbers to over 1,600 people per day and undertook numerous local and national public relations and advocacy campaigns.

A. Cornelius Baker

National Policy Advisor, National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy Coalition; Washington, DC

Mr. Baker also serves as a Senior Communications Advisor at the Center on AIDS and Community Health of the Academy for Educational Development.  For the past two decades, Mr. Baker has worked in the local and Federal Government sectors, local and national community-based advocacy and service delivery and on a variety of workgroups to advance the nation’s response to the HIV epidemic.  Mr. Baker has served on a number of advisory committees, such as CDC Advisory Committee on Monitoring the Epidemic; the Technical Advisory Committee for the Gay and Bisexual Men of Color Prevention Needs Assessment of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.  Mr. Baker also has received numerous awards and recognition for his work and contributions toward ending the HIV epidemic for all people and communities.  Mr. Baker is a person living with AIDS; he was diagnosed with HIV IN 1985.

Praveen Basaviah

HIV/AIDS advocate; Menlo Park, CA

Mr. Basaviah most recently completed serving for one year as a Bill Clinton fellow in India through the American Indian Foundation (AIF).  He worked in the HIV/AIDS sector in South India with the South India AIDS Action Program.  Prior to joining the AIF, Mr. Basaviah worked as a program manager at the National Centers on Sexuality in San Francisco; he also worked with the Speakers Bureau of Communities United Against Violence.  His work experience with these two organizations included touring San Francisco public schools to speak with youth about issues facing the South Asian American communities.  He also talked about issues facing the LGBTQ community and his own experiences being a queer person of color.  Mr. Basaviah has had much experience serving as a minority peer counselor and mentor to students on various forms of oppression and discrimination, i.e., racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia and heterosexism.  Mr. Basaviah served as a member of the planning committee for the ONAP Youth and HIV/AIDS Conference and served as a co-facilitator for this event that recently was held in Washington, D.C.  Mr. Basaviah currently is seeking opportunities to expand his knowledge and work experiences in HIV/AIDS and sexuality as they impact public health and youth empowerment in the national and international sectors.

Dawn Averitt Bridge

Ms. Bridge was diagnosed with HIV in 1988.  She founded the Well Project, which is a not-for-profit organization that works to change the course of the HIV/AIDS pandemic through a unique and comprehensive focus on women. The organization works to develop new resources to educate, nurture, and support the community of HIV+ women, their caregivers, and their health care providers.  The Well Project is administered by HIV+ women.  Prior to founding the Well Project, Ms. Bridge spent years advocating research for HIV treatment and serving as a public speaker.  Her knowledge and expertise in HIV/AIDS ranges from general HIV awareness and pathogenesis of HIV disease to complex treatment-related topics.

Douglas Brooks

Vice President for Health Services, Justice Resource Institute(JRI); Boston, MA

 Mr. Brooks also serves as Executive Director of the JRI Health/Sidney Borum Jr Health Center.  Mr. Brooks is a licensed clinical social worker.  He works closely with partners in the local, state, and federal government and non-government sectors and is respected in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a public health leader who is skilled in facilitating conversations, bridging divides and bringing groups to consensus.  Mr. Brooks’ professional and research expertise include the impact of stigmatization, discrimination and denial on HIV prevention efforts with black youth and adults and with gay men (and other men who have sex with men) of all colors; youth development for homeless and other marginalized youth; and the reduction of health and health care inequities.  For the past seven years, Mr. Brooks has represented the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a member of the Massachusetts-South Africa Health Task Force.  Functioning in this role, he has worked closely with the South African Eastern Cape Province Department of Health on strategies for developing partnerships between government and HIV-positive consumers.  Mr. Brooks is a person living with HIV.

Calvin Butts III, D. Min.

Pastor, Abyssinian Baptist Church; New York, NY

Dr. Butts is the pastor of one of the largest churches in Harlem, NY.  He also is president of the State University of New York (SUNY).  Dr. Butts is considered a community leader.  Under his leadership, the community development and outreach efforts of his church include homelessness, senior citizen and youth empowerment, and cultural awareness.   Dr. Butts helped to mobilize the religious community to support programs that provide assistance to AIDS patients and their families.  Dr. Butts is Chair of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS.  He also serves as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of United Way of New York City and is a Board member of the New York Blood Center, the American Red Cross of Greater New York, New Visions for Public Schools, and the American Baptist College in Nashville, TN.  Dr. Butts has been awarded several honorary degrees from various universities and colleges.

Humberto Cruz

Director, AIDS Institute, New York State Department of Health; New York, NY

 Mr. Cruz has been employed in progressively responsible positions in the AIDS Institute for approximately 20 years.  He assumed responsibility for the leadership position approximately two years ago.  In his current position, Mr. Cruz provides oversight for the development, evaluation, and delivery of prevention programs; health care and support services; the establishment of clinical standards for care; education of health providers and the public, and guidance for regional and statewide planning.  In addition to his employment at the state level, Mr. Cruz also serves, at the national level, as a member of the Executive Committee for the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD).  NASTAD represents the AIDS directors in every state and territory that administer both state and federal funding for HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment, and can include housing.  Mr. Cruz’s roles in the public and private sector require that he stay abreast of changes in existing HIV/AIDS policies.  Mr. Cruz is a person living with AIDS, he understands the perspective of persons living with the virus, the providers who care for them, and has established strong, collaborative relationships with officials at the state, local and national level who must develop the policies and programs that guide service provisions.

Ernest Darkoh, MD, MPH

Chairman, BroadReach Healthcare, LLC; Washington, DC

 Dr. Darkoh is an internationally recognized expert in global health program management, strategic planning, health systems development and large scale treatment program implementation.  Dr. Darkoh has served as an advisor to numerous governments, including Botswana, China, Ethiopia, and South Africa in the development of their public and private sector HIV/AIDS programs.  He is widely acclaimed for the leadership he provided to Botswana’s National Antiretrovial Treatment Program, which is the first public sector HIV/AIDS treatment program in Africa and a program widely regarded as the “proof of concept” model for large scale ARVC therapy in Africa.

Kevin Frost

Chief Executive Officer, The Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR); New York, NY

 Mr. Frost joined the staff of amfAR in 1994; he has occupied his current position since 2007.  Prior to joining amfAR, Mr. Frost worked as an inpatient care coordinator of the AIDS program at Bellevue Hospital in New York City.  He also previously served as a research assistant at the New York University Medical Center working on clinical research studies of cytomegalovirus retinitis in people with HIV/AIDS.  Mr. Frost’s efforts significantly contributed to development of TREAT Asia, a collaborative effort of 17 Asian countries that are increasingly and actively engaged in HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and pertinent public education.  Mr. Frost has been involved in the planning of two international AIDS conferences.

Patricia Garcia, MD

Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Northwestern University; Chicago, IL

Dr. Garcia is specialized in maternal and fetal medicine.  Her research interests include epidemiology of STD and HIV/AIDS and interventions in STD and HIV/AIDS.

Robert Greenwald

Managing Attorney, The WilmerHale Legal Services Center; Harvard Law School; Jamaica Plain, MA

Mr. Greenwald also directs the Health Law and Policy Clinic and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Law Clinic that are operated through the Legal Services Center (LSC).  Started by Mr. Greenwald as the AIDS Law Clinic, the Health Law and Policy Clinic was the first law school-based legal services program serving low-income people living with HIV/AIDS.  The Clinic provides direct legal services to HIV-positive clients to help them obtain public and private health insurance and disability benefits and to make plans for the future care of their children.  Mr. Greenwald serves as Executive Director of the Treatment Access Expansion Project (TEAP), which is a national organization that focuses on HIV health care access advocacy.  He also serves as Co-Chair of the Federal HIV Health Care Access Working Group, which is a national coalition of advocates who work to improve access to quality care for people living with HIV/AIDS.  Mr. Greenwald works to ensure that national health reform will meet the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS and that issues important to the HIV/AIDS communityare included in any reform legislation.

Kathie Hiers

Chief Executive Officer, AIDS Alabama; Birmingham, AL

 AIDS Alabama is a non-profit organization that provides housing and supportive services, as well as education, outreach, and testing to low-income persons with HIV/AIDS.  Ms. Hier’s employment history includes serving as Executive Director of Mobile AIDS Support Services and as a founder of the Lee Simmons Fund for People Living with AIDS in Mobile, AL.  Ms. Hiers has worked for more than 15 years to serve the HIV/AIDS populations through Alabama’s service organizations.  She works to educate state legislators on issues that impact HIV/AIDS.  Ms. Hiers is recognized as a leader of HIV advocacy efforts in Alabama.  Ms. Hiers is called upon to provide guidance to others on the development of state advocacy networks.  Ms. Hiers also is called upon to speak at the national and state level on other topics/issues impacting HIV/AIDS, such as housing, the Ryan White program, women living with the HIV disease, and comprehensive sexual education.

David Holtgrave, PhD

Professor and Chair, Department of Health, Behavior and Society; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Baltimore, MD

 While much of Dr. Holtgrave’s efforts have been directed toward prevention, he also has knowledge and expertise of HIV/AIDS issues that impact  treatment and housing.  Dr. Holtgrave was previously employed by the CDC as Director, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention - Intervention Research and Support.  While employed in this position, Dr. Holtgrave worked on the first comprehensive evaluation strategy for HIV prevention programs, coordinated the first review paper on HIV prevention intervention science; helped to establish HIV prevention community planning; and improved working relationships with health departments, community-based organizations, private sector partners, and others federal agencies.  Dr. Holtgrave formerly served on an Institute of Medicine panel that examined a variety of strategies for the public sector funding of HIV care and treatment services in the United States.  He currently serves on the Board of the National Association of People with AIDS.

Michael Horberg, MD, MAS, FACP

Director, HIV/AIDS; Kaiser Permanente; Oakland, CA

In his current position, Dr. Horberg serves as a clinical Lead for HIV/ AIDS for the Care Management Institute. Dr. Horberg is a Assistant Clinical Professor at Sanford University Medical School and is a research scientist at the TPMG Division of Research. Dr. Horberg is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and he presently serves on the Board of Directors of the HIV Medicine Association of the Infectious Disease Society of America. Dr. Horberg is past-president of the national Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. His HIV research interests are health service outcomes for HIV-infected patients (including HIV quality measures and care improvement, and determinants of optimized multidisciplinary care for maximized HIV outcomes), medication adherence issues in these patients, and epidemiology of the disease. He graduated from Boston University’s College of Liberal Arts and School of Medicine (with honors of Summa cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa) and completed his internal medicine residency at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago (University of Chicago affiliate). He received his Master of Advanced Studies (Clinical Research) from University of California San Francisco.

Ejay Jack

Graduate Assistant, Multicultural Affairs; The University of Nebraska at Omaha; Omaha, NE

Mr. Jack has interest and experience working on international and domestic issues that impact HIV/AIDS and mental illness.  His current work efforts focus on HIV and STD education and prevention within the transgender population and injection drug users.

Jack Jackson Jr.,

Principal, The Agassiz Group, LLC; Phoenix, AZ

 Mr. Jackson has been involved with matters concerning the impact of HIV/AIDS on American Indians and Alaska Natives living in tribal and urban communities.  Mr. Jackson previously served on the Board of the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center (NNAAPC) and also served as one of the organization’s public policy consultant.  While serving in this position, Mr. Jackson participated in the HIV/AIDS Dialogue Group that was convened by the Centers for Disease Control.  Mr. Jackson was appointed as a board member of Phoenix Body Positive (currently known as the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS).  Mr. Jackson advocated to ensure adequate funding for the AIDS Drugs Assistance Program in the Arizona Department of Health Services.  Mr. Jackson was appointed to serve as a member of PACHA during the Clinton administration.

Naina Khanna

Director of Policy and Community Organizing; Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Disease (WORLD); Oakland, CA

Ms. Khanna has responsibility for coordinating organizational policy and advocacy efforts at the local, state and national levels, with an emphasis on training and leadership development for women living with HIV.  She also manages and directs the U.S. Positive Women’s Network (PWN), which has a national membership of HIV+ women who are working for a response to the US epidemic that meets women’s needs.  PWN provides technical assistance to women-focused HIV organizations around the U.S.

Anita McBride

Anita McBride served as Assistant to President George W. Bush and Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush from 2005 to 2009.  She directed the staff’s work on the wide variety of issues in which Mrs. Bush was involved — including education, global literacy, youth development, women’s rights and health, historic preservation and conservation, the arts, and global health issues including efforts to end pandemic diseases like malaria and HIV/AIDS.  Also under President George W. Bush, Mrs. McBride worked in the State Department as Senior Advisor in the Bureau of International Organizations and as White House Liaison. She also served as Special Assistant to the President for White House Management.  Mrs. McBride’s White House service spans two decades and three administrations. She joined the Reagan Administration in 1984, and from 1987 to 1992, she was Director of White House Personnel under Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush. She also served as Director of the Speakers Bureau at the United States Information Agency in 1992.  In January 2009, she was appointed by President George W. Bush to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board for a term of three years.

Douglas Michels

President, Chief Executive Officer, OraSure Technologies, Inc., Bethlehem, PA

Mr. Michels joined OraSure Technologies, Inc in June 2004, as President and Chief Executive Officer. He is a member of the Company’s Board of Directors. Since joining OraSure, Mr. Michels has led the Company to become a global leader in oral fluid diagnostics for infectious disease and drugs of abuse. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Michels spent 19 years with Johnson & Johnson and 7 years with Abbott Laboratories. At Johnson and Johnson, he was President, International, for Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc., and President of Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, Inc. He also held numerous General Management and Marketing and Sales positions, in both medical devices and diagnostics. While at Abbott Laboratories, he held various sales and marketing positions. Mr. Michels currently serves on the Board of St. Luke’s Hospital and Health Network in Bethlehem, Pa., and has previously served on the Board of the National Blood Foundation, the Board of the National Committee for Quality Health Care, and the Coalition to Protect America’s Health Care. Mr. Michels received a B.S. degree in Public Health Administration from the University of Illinois in 1978 and an MBA from Rutgers University in 1990.

Mario J. Pérez

Director of the County of Los Angeles, Department of Public Health, Office of AIDS Programs and Policy (OAPP)

 He is responsible for managing and guiding the annual investment of more than $80 million in local, state and federal resources that support a comprehensive local HIV/AIDS service delivery system.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of both the AIDS Action Council and the National Minority AIDS Council in Washington, DC. He is a Commissioner on the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV and a former member of both the California HIV Planning Group and the Los Angeles County HIV Prevention Planning Committee.  On numerous occasions over the last 15 years, he has testified before Members of Congress, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles City Council to address a range of HIV/AIDS issues including advocacy for needle exchange and other HIV prevention programs, support for scientifically proven interventions, and adequate resources to meet broad HIV/AIDS goals.  Mario began providing HIV/AIDS services in 1990 targeted to the Oakland and Berkeley, California communities while a student at UC Berkeley.

Rosie Perez

Actor, choreographer, director

Born Rosa Maria Perez on September 6, 1964, in New York, New York. Originally Perez wanted to be a marine biologist and she got into acting by accident. Director Spike Lee saw her in a nightclub and hired her for the 1989 film Do the Right Thing, which explored what could happen when racial tensions explode on a hot summer day. More film roles and television guest spots soon followed. She appeared on 21 Jump Street and became the choreographer for the show In Living Color, which earned her three Emmy nominations. She also starred in White Men Can't Jump (1992) with Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes and Untamed Heart (1993) with Marisa Tomei and Christian Slater.  It was her dramatic turn in Fearless (1993) that earned her first Oscar nomination. Starring with Jeff Bridges, Perez played a plane crash survivor wracked with guilt of the death of her child, also in the crash. She has also lent her distinctive voice to a number of different projects, including The Road to El Dorado (2000).

Rev. Vanessa D. Sharp

Pastor of Worldwide Outreach for Higher Hope Christian Ministries

Rev. Vanessa D. Sharp, currently on sabbatical as Pastor of Worldwide Outreach for Higher Hope Christian Ministries in Southwest Atlanta, GA and a strong advocate for HIV/AIDS, health and holistic wellness, was diagnosed with HIV in 1990, breaking her silence as a World AIDS Day speaker in December 1997.

Rev. Sharp has served on SisterLove Inc.’s Board of Directors for the past four years and became Chairperson January 2009, the first and largest non-profit in Georgia to focus specifically on the needs of women at risk for contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. As ChangeOneLife, Inc's consultant since 2007 in Nairobi and other areas in Kenya East Africa, Vanessa develops relationships to partnership on such Africa AIDS Alive initiatives that includes a “Mother’s Milk Project’’ for this Web-based Medical Health Ministry. Founder of LINC Worldwide Outreach, Inc (Love Integrates Nurture & Care), 2008, a “Girls to Womanhood, and Widows Empowerment Initiative,” two chapters of Widowed women in Kenya and two single parent families in Ghana are linked to this development of this organization.

Her volunteer work has included various initiatives at local, national, and international levels including the AIDS Ecumenical Coalition, AIDS Alliance for Faith and Health, AIDS Leadership Team (ALT), the National Minority AIDS Council’s National HIV Vaccine Research Education Initiative, and more recently, the Best Life for All (BELFA) HIV Prevention Initiative in Akropong-Akuapem, Ghana West Africa.

Additionally, she has serve as an Executive Board Representative of the Presbyterian Health, Education, and Welfare Association (PHEWA) for the Presbyterian AIDS Network (PAN) Leadership Team of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Sandra Torres

Executive Director, Bill’s Kitchen

Mrs. Torres led the establishment in 1997 of the first nutritional program in Puerto Rico for persons with HIV/AIDS.  She has been recognized as an exceptional leader in the area of HIV/AIDS and has an ample understanding of the area of nutritional and support services for persons living with HIV. For eight years she served as a key member of the Ryan White Part A Planning Council for the San Juan EMA.

Phill Wilson

Executive Director, The Black AIDS Institute, Los Angeles, CA

The Institute is a training and mobilization center focused exclusively on Black people. The Institute’s mission is to stop the AIDS pandemic in Black communities by engaging and mobilizing Black institutions and individuals in efforts to confront HIV. Prior to founding the Institute, Mr. Willson served as the AIDS Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles from 1990 to 1993, The Director of Policy and Planning at AIDS Project Los Angeles from 1993 to 1996. He was co-chair of the Los Angeles County HIV Health Commission from 1990 to 1995, and was an appointee to the HRSA AIDS Advisory Committee from 1995 to 1998. Mr. Willson graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts in 1977 from Illinois Wesleyan University. He currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Staff

Kaye Hayes

Executive Director, Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, SW, Room 443H Washington, D.C. 20201 (202) 690-5560