In 1993, I started medical school at Tulane University in New Orleans with the intention of someday becoming a general practitioner. By the time I entered my clinical rotations two years later, AIDS-related illnesses were the leading cause of death among Americans age 25-44. This was a call I could not ignore; the need was too great.
Working at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, I witnessed firsthand how so much care could be provided with so few resources. At the time, HIV and AIDS were widely misunderstood and the diseases were stigmatized, but the compassion of the people operating on the front lines was inspirational.
My career as an infectious disease physician has since taken me from New Orleans to Boston, Haiti, South Africa and, for the last nine years, the San Francisco Bay area, where I now lead HIV research and development at Gilead Sciences. The progress in HIV care in this short period of time has been nothing short of remarkable—highly effective HIV treatment and prevention now allow people at risk of or living with HIV to live longer, healthier lives. At Gilead, we are especially proud to have developed 11 HIV therapies. Yet, we recognize that these advances are not equally accessible within the U.S. or across the globe.
The work of activists, researchers, community members, faith leaders and public health officials, coupled with the announcement of the national “Ending the Epidemic” plan, is shining a spotlight on the continuing HIV epidemic in the country, especially in the South.
We now have the biomedical tools needed to reach the goal of ending new infections by 2030 as part of the Ending the Epidemic plan. However, to fully capitalize on this moment, we need more than medicine—we need ongoing and substantial community investment and support to further reduce stigma, increase access to and the quality of healthcare and enhance local leadership and advocacy.
Since 2010, Gilead has contributed $537 million to nonprofits across the U.S. to tackle the underlying issues that continue to fuel the HIV epidemic. We were proud to earn the title of number one U.S. company in charitable cash giving by the Chronicle of Philanthropy in 2018. This funding, along with our comprehensive medication access programs, remains the most effective and direct way to support communities at risk.
Today, the burden of HIV falls disproportionately on marginalized communities. Fifty-two percent of new HIV infections occur among people living in the South, but that region is home to only 38 percent of the population. Some areas of the South have infection rates comparable to the earliest days of the epidemic in the 1980s. Poverty, racism, homophobia and transphobia play significant roles in this inequity.
To help address this urgent need, Gilead launched the COMPASS Initiative™—investing more than $100 million over 10 years in the effort to help people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in the South. Through COMPASS, we’ve supported more than 100 groups operating at the forefront of care and prevention efforts, with an emphasis on the nine states in the Deep South where the need is greatest. Organizations like the Rural Women’s Health Project, which is working to increase health equity across North Florida, and Brotherhood Inc., which focuses on HIV prevention in New Orleans, are collectively strengthening communities and changing the course of HIV/AIDS in the region through their work with the COMPASS Initiative.
From New Orleans to San Francisco, we’re on the ground supporting interventions that work and helping share and scale the best ideas. We recognize the need to cultivate and embrace the expertise and knowledge that exists outside our own walls. Our community-focused approach allows us to raise awareness, reduce stigma and build capacity around the world. These efforts pair with our unwavering commitment to enhancing access to our medications. We have worked to reduce the barrier of out-of-pocket costs and help more people access our HIV treatment and prevention options.
There is still more to be done. We will continue to lead and develop new therapeutic options for both HIV treatment and prevention and invest in research that brings us closer to finding a cure. At the same time, we are dedicated to our ongoing partnership with the HIV community to translate these innovations into meaningful benefits for the people who need them. We must continue to work together to transform our ambitious goals into reality. With a renewed sense of purpose, let us work together to end the HIV epidemic.
Learn more about the Gilead COMPASS Initiative
