2023 Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit Impact Report

April 11-12, 2023

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

Las Vegas, NV

2023 Impact Report

ABOUT THE SUMMIT

About the Summit

NMAC leads with race to urgently fight for health equity and racial justice to end the HIV epidemic in America. The Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit is the only major regular conference focused on the prevention of HIV through biomedical means, including PrEP, PEP, and TasP. This year was the seventh Summit. More than 1,300 people attended.

Format

This year’s Summit was a two-day in-person conference that featured four plenary sessions, an exhibit hall, and 40 workshops at three levels of instruction (beginner, intermediate, and advanced).

Beginner levels were primarily didactic. Intermediate level sessions were didactic and interactive, while advanced level sessions were designed to maximize interaction between attendees and participants.

Opening Plenary - “Sex is Natural, Sex is Fun.”

The Politics of Sex and Pleasure in the Age of Pandemics

This plenary discussed how pleasure-centric interventions can help make informed choices about which biomedical HIV prevention tools

to use without compromising desire, pleasure, and human connection. Discussions included kinks, barebacking, fetish, BDSM, Chemsex, group sex, bathhouses/ sex clubs, porn, consent, and more.

Speakers:

• Victoria Von Blaque, Contract Manager, Transgender Equity Consulting

• Demetre Daskalakis, MD MPH, Deputy Coordinator National Mpox Response, The White House (on assignment from Director for the Division of HIV Prevention role at CDC)

• Justin Davis aka JD Blackstone, a sex positive content creator

• Rod McCoy, Research Assistant, Community Health Educator and sex-positive Leatherman

• Deondre B. Moore, GLAAD Award Winning activist or HIV Plus 2022 person of the year

• Michelle López, Einstein CFAR

• Moupali Das, MD, Executive Director, Clinical Development, Gilead Sciences

Afternoon Plenary - Tennessee and Beyond. The Fallout of Refusing Federal Aid

This plenary covered recent developments in various states. Tennessee is following a disturb-ing trend among conservative states’ attacks on people at risk of HIV. At the core of these attacks is an agenda to limit the privacy rights of LGBTQ Americans. Equally troubling is the Braidwood Management case in Texas, which, if affirmed, will gut preventative care from the Affordable Care Act. These attacks are deliberate and calculated - not sound policy, political, and are dangerous. The HIV community is targeted by the religious right; and red states reject HIV prevention funding.

Presenters:

• Toni Newman, Director of The Coalition for Justice and Equality Across Movements

• Sharon W. Hurt, Executive Director, Street Works

• José Abrigo, HIV Project Director, Lambda Legal

• Cecilia Chung 鍾紹琪, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Evaluation, Transgender Law Center

• Kelley Robinson, President, Human Rights Campaign

Morning Plenary - Taking Control Over Our Bodies: Black Women, Sex, Violence, and HIV

Black cisgender women are disproportionately affected by HIV, with a rate 11 times higher than that of white women. Also, nearly two-thirds of African American/Black transgender women are living with HIV. Economic disparities, oppressive social sys-tems, and other structural inequalities all contribute to the health disparities that Black women face. This plenary looked at the intersections between HIV, systemic racism, sexism, intimate partner violence, and the sexual oppression of Black women which fuels generational stigma.

Speakers:

• Danielle Campbell, Clinical Social Worker, University of California San Diego

• Ms. Billie Cooper, Community Activist

• Dázon Dixon Diallo DHL, MPH, SisterLove, Inc.

• Gabriella Spencer, Program Manager, NMAC

Closing Plenary - The 2023 PrEPpy Awards and a National PrEP Program

A comprehensive National PrEP Program could provide a domestic infrastructure to fund, im-plement, and coordinate the federal response to PrEP. A proposal for a National PrEP Pro-gram is on the table. PrEP advocates are building a coalition to effectively advocate for a pro-gram that serves all and bridges the gaps that exacerbate health disparities. This plenary brought advocates together to discuss how such a program could be built.

The PrEPpy Awards highlighted the best PrEP/ TasP program in 2022. We had more than three dozen entries for the first PrEPpy Awards that were nominated by the community and judged by a panel on several categories. Three incredible finalists were selected to speak for five minutes. Each finalist showcased their campaign’s uniqueness and strategies.

Speakers:

• JP Cano, BSN, RN, Director of Prevention Services, Resource Center

• Vignetta Charles, PhD, CEO, Education, Training and Research (ETR)

• Joe Huang-Racalto, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Policy, NMAC

• Jeremiah Johnson, Acting Executive Director, PrE4All

• Amanda Reed, MD, DO, Clinical Director, Council Oak Comprehensive Health, Hepatitis C and HIV Program, Muscogee

(Creek) National Department of Health

The Second Annual PrEPpy Award Winners

WINNER:

She is PrEPalucious®️ Let’s Beehive!

2nd PLACE PrEP PONO Kumukahi Health + Wellness

3rd PLACE Love! Live Clark County Social Service, Office of HIV

2nd Place

3rd Place

Workshops

This year’s summit offered 40 workshops in the following tracks:

• Public and Private Insurance for PrEP

• Strategies for a National PrEP Program

• Capacity Building to strengthen organizational effectiveness on PrEP and U=U services

• Impactful Community mobilization and advocacy strategies

• Pleasure, eroticism, and the politics of sex positivity

• TGNC People of Color and Biomedical Prevention Interventions

• New Technologies for biomedical HIV prevention

• African American Women and PrEP and PEP

• Implementation Research and Evaluation

• Community participation in HIV prevention research

• Prevención biomédica para personas hispanoparlantes.

Community Corners

Community Corners are a unique feature of the Summit. They are 15-minute presentation sessions from community partners on a variety of topics connected to biomedical HIV prevention. This year’s Community Corner sessions were presented by:

• Ryan White Part A Las Vegas TGA

• Jen Howell with Washoe County Health District

• Southern Nevada Health District

• Nevada AIDS Education Training Center (AETC)

• University Medical Center of Southern Nevada

• The Seed Project

• Sin Sity Sisters SADAP

• The Southern Nevada Health Consortium

Lounges

The Summit hosted two lounges during the conference. One lounge was organized for transgender/gender nonconforming attendees. The other catered to attendees living with HIV.

Forty-three organizations had a booth in the Summit Exhibit Hall, offering attendees an opportunity to learn more about their services.

Exhibit Hall

Age Range

Age Range

Racial Identity

Racial Identity

Question: What did enjoy most about the Summit?

GREAT energy, passion, themes were on point and appropriately explicit I enjoy meeting new people from all walks of life and being in community, listening to all of the different experiences, triumphs, barriers, and struggles. It keeps me grounded, focused and inspired and ultimately reminds me of the importance of our work.

The breakout sessions were wellbalanced, with diverse tracks to follow. The centering of sex and pleasure. The centering of women.

I liked the networking opportunities and the clinical update piece. I also appreciated how Black women were brought into the conversation regarding PrEP.

The plenary speakers were all SO incredible - I left feeling so empowered in the work I do and with a better understanding of the human experience.

As someone working in this field since 1983 and living in SF in 1981 I have been to A LOT of conferences over the years. This was my first Biomedical one. It was one of the best conferences, if not the best one ever. SO thought provoking and real. Thank you!

Representation of all people. The more we see in lead roles from across the board, the better everyone’s understanding of the issues. I also appreciated hearing more about the political environment that impacts the health and wellness of the groups involved.

Executive Office

Paul Kawata, Executive Director

Kim Ferrell, Deputy Director of Operations

Conferences

Tara Barnes-Darby, Director of Conferences

Alison J. McKeithen, Assistant Director

Shanta’ Gray, Sr. Registrar and Meeting Planner

Diane Ferguson, Conferences Coordinator

Communications

Chip Lewis, Director of Communications

Dernell Green, Social Media Coordinator

Finance and Administrative Division

Naveen Rustagi, Director

Ron Dorsey, Consultant

Development

Jennifer Bledsoe, Director of Development

STAFF

NMAC Training Center to End the Epidemic

Charles Shazor Jr., Director

Terrell Parker, Program Manager

Gabriella Spencer, Program Manager

Lauren Miller, Health Equity Program Coordinator

Cora Trelles Cartagena, Associate Program Manager

Christopher Paisano, Program Coordinator, Indian Country

Marshun Redmond, Executive Assistant

Duante’ Brown, ELEVATE Program Manager

Coalition for Justice and Equality Across Movements

Toni Newman, Director

Treatment

Moisés Agosto-Rosario, Director of Treatment

Damián Cabrera-Candelaria, Program Manager

Jonathan Ayala, Associate Program Manager

Government Relations

Joe Huang-Racalto, Director of Strategic Partnerships & Policy

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chair

John W. Hill, Jr., Washington, DC

Co-Chair

Lance Toma, San Francisco Community Health Center, San Francisco, CA

Secretary

Therese Rodriguez, APICHA Community Health Center, New York, NY

Treasurer

Valerie Rochester, Creating Healthier Communities, Alexandria, VA

BOARD MEMBERS

Brenda Hunt

Borderbelt AIDS Resource Team (BART)

Lumberton, NC

Monica Johnson

HEROES - Helping Everyone Receive Ongoing Effective Support

Columbia, LA

Kelsey Louie, MSW, MBA

The Door – A Center of Alternatives

New York, NY

Norm Nickens

San Francisco, CA

Leonardo Ramon Ortega, MD, MPH

Shalom Health Care Center, Inc.

Indianapolis, IN

Mario Perez

County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health

Office of AIDS Programs & Policy

Los Angeles, CA

Rev. Ed Sanders

Metropolitan Interdenominational Church

Nashville, TN

Evelyn Ullah

Unique Solutions

Broward County, FL

Rodolfo R. Vega

JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc.

Boston, MA

Carlos E. Rodríguez-Díaz, PhD, MPHE, MCHES

DC CFAR

Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University

Washington, DC

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS PRESENTING SUPPORTER