top of page
40+ YEARS OF HIV/AIDS RESEARCH IN THE US
Advocacy and art have gone hand-in-hand with HIV/AIDS research over the last 40 years in the United States.
The impact individuals’ stories have had on pushing the science is undeniable, especially in the early days when little was understood, stigma was rampant, and policymakers were intent on ignoring the ever-growing community needs.
Much of what we do as the Health Education and Community Core at PHACS is built on this history. We wanted to weave our research journey with that of our participants and within the greater history of HIV/AIDS in the United States.
Although these are some major events identified by our community, it is important to note that art, advocacy, and research have also been happening at local levels, some of which are yet to garner a spotlight.
Men Holding Heart
Keith Haring (1958-1990)
TIMELINE KEY
CLICK the bubbles below to learn more about the impact of movements.
40+ YEARS OF
1987
The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt is started by activist Cleve Jones in San Francisco, CA.
1987
Due to both the social stigma of AIDS felt by surviving family members and the outright refusal by many funeral homes and cemeteries to handle the deceased's remains, many people who died of AIDS-related causes did not receive funerals.
To honor those who had been lost to AIDS and spread awareness, Jones and volunteers Mike Smith, Joseph Durant, Jack Caster, Gert McMullin, Ron Cordova, Larkin Mayo, Steve Kirchner, and Gary Yuschalk created a patchwork quilt.
As of 2020, the piece is the largest piece of community folk art in the world.
Each panel is 3 feet (0.91 m) by 6 feet (1.8 m), approximately the size of the average grave, and represents a different individual. Today the quilt (still in San Francisco) continues to grow, with an estimated 50,000 panels dedicated to more than 110,000 individuals and weighs about 54 tons.
1987
The AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) is created by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Hugely impactful in identifying treatments and prevention strategies, it is the world’s largest and longest-running clinical trials network focused on HIV and other infectious diseases.
1987
1968
15-year-old Robert Rayford checks in to City Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. He has symptoms of a weakened immune system and passes away the following year.
Doctors would test Rayford’s blood more than a decade later and find evidence of HIV. Today, some researchers consider this to be the first case of HIV/AIDS in the United States.
1968
​
JUNE 5, 1981
JUNE 5
In the CDC’s “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR),” Dr. Michael Gottlieb and colleagues publish “Pneumocystis Pneumonia – Los Angeles,” a report describing a rare lung infection among a group of five previously healthy gay men living in Los Angeles. This marks the first official report of AIDS in medical literature.
1981
This document, promoting media coverage and in turn the confirmation of similar cases in areas around the country, is known for putting the epidemic on the map and prompting a deeper scientific investigation into the subject.
Source: https://www.aaihs.org/why-black-aids-history-matters/
Photo: https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/sldc/brownfields/City-Hospital.cfm
1981
Bobbi Campbell, a nurse, begins writing a column for the San Francisco Sentinel about his experience living with what will later be identified as AIDS. He also shares images of his Kaposi’s Sarcoma lesions in the window of a Castro District pharmacy, at the time a diagnosable symptom of the disease, urging those with similar lesions to seek medical treatment.
Considered one of the first people to go public with their diagnosis, Campbell’s column was shared in gay newspapers around the country.
DECEMBER
DECEMBER 1981
JULY 1982
JULY
“Do Ya Wanna Funk” is released by Sylvester and Patrick Cowley, pioneers in disco and electronic dance music. Today, the song is considered one of the best dance songs of all time.
1982
“It bothers me that AIDS is still thought of as a gay, white male disease. The black community is at the bottom of the line when it comes to getting information, even when we’ve been so hard hit by this disease. I’d like to think that by going public myself with this, I can give other people courage to face it” (1988)
Upon Sylvester’s passing in 1988, brought on by complications due to AIDS, he bequeathed all future music royalties to the AIDS Emergency Fund (AEF) and Rita Rockett’s food program at San Francisco General Hospital's Ward 86 for AIDS patients.
JULY 16, 1983
JULY 16
When a group of lesbians and members of the Women’s Caucus of the San Diego Democratic Club saw first-hand the devastating effect of the AIDS crisis on men within their communities, they decided to look for something concrete to do. They saw a desperate need for blood, after a national ban on blood donations from “men who have sex with men,” coupled with HIV patients who often needed frequent blood transfusions. This led to a critical national blood shortage.
Founding The San Diego Blood Sisters, Wendy Sue Biegelseisen, Nicolette Ibarra, and Barbara Vick organized a blood drive, coordinating with blood banks, to directly help patients living with HIV/AIDS. Their first drive was a major success, with 130 donations.
1983
The first-ever blood screening test for HIV antibodies, developed by Abbott, is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
​
1985
1985
.jpg)
1985
Hart Island is the burial site of anyone who dies in New York City whose body is not collected by a licensed funeral director. People who died of AIDS in New York City 1985-1986 were buried in individual graves at the southernmost tip of Hart Island.
The grave of the first child known to have died of AIDS in New York City resides
on the island.
Today, the Hart Island Project AIDS Initiative is an attempt to identify people who died of AIDS buried on Hart Island and preserve their stories.
1985
JULY 25, 1985
JULY 25
1985
Actor Rock Hudson announces he has AIDS. He dies on October 2, 1985 at the age of 59.
A leading man in Hollywood during the 1950s and 1960s, the star's shocking diagnosis and death is credited with shining a new light on the epidemic.
HIV/AIDS IN THE
UNITED STATES
COMPLETE TIMELINE
1984
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci becomes the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) president.
Initially criticized by LGBTQIA+ activists for his handling of the epidemic, he eventually worked closely with members of the community and adopted their suggestion of adding people with HIV to all the committees overseeing his AIDS research programs.
1984
“I interacted with Presidents. I interacted with gay activists. Author and activist Larry Kramer is a dear friend who was a long-time nemesis. I remember he wanted to get my attention by writing an open letter to 'that incompetent idiot' Dr. Tony Fauci. He needed to stir the pot.”
1986
Reverend Charles Angel, a Pentecostal minister and societal engineer, starts Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD) in New York.
A community space to support one another, the group shared ideas and information about education, political mobilization, and the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic.
1986
1987
Silence = Death Poster
1987
A group founded by Avram Finkelstein, Brian Howard, Oliver Johnston, Charles Kreloff, Chris Lione, and Jorge Socarrás, offerered mutual aid through raising awareness about the pandemic.
Inspired by posters of the Art Workers Coalition and the Guerrilla Girls, the pink triangle is a reference to patches assigned to LGBTQ+ individuals to wear during the Holocaust. The image was later donated to ACT UP and became a defining image of the organization and the times.
MARCH 19, 1987
1987
AZT (zidovudine) becomes the first medication approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat HIV/AIDS.
Part of an antiretroviral class of drugs, these drugs are used to suppress a retrovirus, like HIV, from multiplying in the body.
March 19
1988
U.S. Justice Department says people with HIV/AIDS cannot be discriminated against.
Two years later, this will be codified in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
1988
SEPTEMBER 1985
SEPTEMBER
1985
The American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) is founded. Dr. Krim and Dr. Michael Gottlieb were the Founding Chairmen, while Elizabeth Taylor acted as the Founding National Chairman.
amfAR later established the first two community-based clinical trial networks, making it a priority to involve HIV-positive community members in the clinical research. Today, it is one of the largest funders of HIV/AIDS cure research worldwide.
One of the first donations was
a gift of $250,000 by Rock Hudson.
MARCH 10, 1987
MARCH 10
Larry Kramer forms ACT UP, or AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power, in New York City. A non-partisan group united in anger and committed to non-violent direct action to the end the AIDS crisis, ACT UP held its first action on Wall Street, protesting the profiteering of pharmaceutical companies on AIDS drugs.
The group expanded, formalizing initiatives such as:
1987
-
Sustained investment in research for new medicines and treatments for HIV/AIDS and related co-infections;
-
Equitable access to prevention and care for HIV/AIDS and healthcare, in general;
-
Tackling the structural drivers of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, such as stigma, discrimination, and poverty.
april 1987
Princess Diana opens the UK’s first specialist HIV/AIDS ward at London’s Middlesex Hospital. She was an outspoken advocate for those living with HIV, especially in a time with great stigma through touch transmission.
april
1987
“HIV does not make people dangerous to know. You can shake their hands and give them a hug. Heaven knows they need it. What's more, you can share their homes, their workplaces, and their playgrounds and toys.”
1988
1988
WITS – The Women and Infants Transmission Study is founded in response to the growing HIV epidemic amongst U.S. women and infants.
The initial aim of the study was to “delineate the natural history of HIV infection in
pregnant women and their infants and to determine clinical and laboratory factors associated with maternal-infant transmission.”
​
​
1988
Elizabeth Glaser, an HIV-positive mother of two HIV-positive children, and two friends form the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, later renamed the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
1988
“ Elizabeth Glaser was one of the first public figures to advocate for research focused on the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS in children. The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation has continued to bring together top international scientists to conduct basic, clinical, and operations research as part of our efforts to end AIDS in children, youth, and families.”
OCTOBER 11, 1988
october 11
ACT UP holds its first national demonstration on the doorstep of the Food and Drug Administration in Maryland.
Protesting the FDA’s slow approval and release of new drugs, demonstrators simulated a mass “die-in,” holding tombstone cutouts that read “DEAD FROM LACK OF DRUGS” and “VICTIM OF F.D.A. RED TAPE.”
​
The FDA would approve one other drug, and expand access to another, less than a year after the demonstration.
​
1988
december 1, 1988
DECEMBER 1
The first-ever World AIDS Day is observed.
World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic. It’s an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, to show support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness.
World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day.
1988
1989
1989
DIVA TV ("Damned Interfering Video Activist Television”) is founded.
A collective of gay and lesbian artists who utilized video as their primary mediums, featuring their work as ACT UP members.
DIVA TV functioned as an educational queer television program that often educated its viewers about the AIDS epidemic.
1989
Keith Haring – Ignorance = Fear (1989)
1989
The poster, made in conjunction with ACT UP, references the “see no/hear no/speak no evil” proverb. The poster is a direct call to action for greater public dialogue and action around AIDS.
Haring’s body of art was defined by public works that explored messages such as birth, death, love, sex, and war.
Following his own AIDS diagnosis in 1988, his work centered around AIDS awareness. He established the Keith Haring Foundation mandated to provide funding and imagery to AIDS organizations and children’s programs.
SEPTEMBER 14, 1989
SEPTEMBER 14
ACT UP protests pharmaceutical price gouging on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Comprising 350 demonstrators, the demonstration stopped trading for the first time in history.
AIDS activists stage several other major protests about AIDS drugs during this year, including at the Golden Gate Bridge and the U.S. headquarters of Burroughs Wellcome.
1989
1990
WAVE, Women’s AIDS Video Enterprise, produces the film We Care: A Video for Care Providers of People Affected by AIDS (1990).
1990
A video collective to empower marginalized women, specifically lower-income women of color, disproportionately affected by the AIDS crisis. They expanded the narrative around HIV by creating educational media with a DIY, personal narrative approach.
Juanita Mohammed Szczepanski was one of the earliest members and a passionate advocate for AIDS education and early intervention. Her immense body of media work explored subjects such as homosexuality, artist venues, “disabled” communities, drugs, community groups, and ex-prisoners.
APRIL 20-23, 1990
APRIL 20-23
April 20 to 23, 1990, was the National AIDS Action for Healthcare, a weekend of gatherings and rallies that culminated in a massive protest in downtown Chicago — one of the largest AIDS demonstrations ever held.
The Chicago chapter of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT UP, played host to activists who came from around the country to protest increasingly glaring inequities in the way the healthcare establishment was responding to the AIDS crisis.
1990
1989
1989
The head of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Dr. Anthony Fauci, endorses a parallel track policy that gives those who do not qualify for clinical trials access to experimental treatments.
AUGUST 18, 1990
AUGUST 18
Congress enacts the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, one of the United States’ largest federally funded health related programs. The program ensures low-income people with HIV have access to medical care, medications, and essential support services to stay in care.
Today, more than 50% of people diagnosed with HIV in United States receive services through Ryan White.
Named after the national advocate Ryan White, White died of HIV/AIDS in 1990 at the age of 18.
1990
.jpeg)
OCTOBER 26, 1990
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves use of zidovudine (ZVD or AZT) for pediatric HIV/AIDS.
OCTOBER 26
1990
1990
John Corigliano first performed Symphony No. 1. Today it is considered the first symphony to deal with the subject of HIV/AIDS.
1990
“During the past decade I have lost many friends and colleagues to the AIDS epidemic, and the cumulative effect of those losses has, naturally, deeply affected me. My first symphony was generated by feelings of loss, anger, and frustration.”
1991
Visual AIDS creates the red ribbon.
A New York-based art collective making art in response to AIDS, the group wanted to create a “consciousness-raising symbol." Inspired by the yellow ribbons used to honor soldiers serving in the Gulf War, they chose the color red for its “connection to blood and the idea of passion – not only anger, but love, like a valentine."
The ribbon was worn publicly by Jeremy Irons at the Tony Awards later that year.
1991
APRIL 1991
Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trial Group (PACTG) and the National Agency of Research on AIDs begin a trial evaluating zidovudine (ZVD or AZT) in HIV-positive pregnant women.
APRIL
1991
The PACTG 076 trial was a breakthrough in research, eventually showing a reduction in the risk of HIV transmission from parent to child (from 25% to 8%) and informing a new standard of care for children and parents. It was also first demonstrated that HIV medications could prevent HIV infection, leading to the development of PrEP two decades later.
Today, in the US, less than 100 babies acquire HIV/AIDS each year through mother-to-child transmission.
OCTOBER 19, 1991
Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ Untitled “Portrait of Ross in L.A.” is exhibited for the first time at Luhring Augustine Hetzler Gallery in Los Angeles.
Composed of bright, individually wrapped candies, visitors of the exhibition are encouraged to take a piece of candy from the pile. Inspired by Felix’s partner Ross Laycock, the “ideal” starting weight of the art installation is 175 pounds, which was Laycock’s “ideal” weight before complications and weight loss due to his AIDS diagnosis.
OCTOBER 19
1991
“An unusual portrait that does not depict the subject’s face in a conventional way. It rather exemplifies the density, physicality, and weight of the body.”
_by_Felix_Gonzalez-Torres.jpg)
1991
The AIDS Clinical Trails Group (ACTG) divides into two groups - Adult ACTG (AACTG) and Pediatric ACTG (PACTG) – each to focus on more treatments and preventions in their demographics.
1991
2006
Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group (PACTG) and the Perinatal Scientific Working Group of the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) to form IMPAACT, a global collaboration working on the treatment, prevention, and ultimate cure of HIV/AIDS.
They do this by conducting clinical trails globally in a variety of demographics, including infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant and postpartum individuals.
2006
JUNE 7, 2018
Rebecca Makkai’s The Great Believers is published.
The novel chronicles a mother’s search for her estranged daughter against the backdrop of a community of gay men in Chicago as they navigate the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. The novel contemplates the ripples of grief affecting generations of survivors.
Considered one of the first novels “to chronicle the AIDS epidemic from its initial outbreak to the present — among the first, that is, to convey the terrors and tragedies of the epidemic’s early years as well as its course and its repercussions over the decades,” the book was a 2019 Pulitzer Prize finalist.
JUNE 7
2018
NOVEMBER 7, 1991
Magic Johnson announces he is living with HIV, as well as his retirement from the NBA. Following his announcement, HIV testing rose by nearly 60% in New York City.
In the following decades, he would become an outspoken advocate for those living with HIV.
1991
novembER 7
“I think sometimes we think only gay people can get it… I am saying that it can happen to anybody—even me [...] Life is going to go on for me, and I’m going to be a happy man."
1993
Proyecto ContraSIDA por Vida opens.
A non-profit HIV-prevention agency located in the Mission District of San Francisco, they provided community-based healthcare to Latinx LGBTQ+ communities.
Using HIV prevention resources, they worked with underserved populations, including Spanish-speaking immigrants, Latinx youth, transgender women, and sex workers.
1993
SEPTEMBER 2, 1993
And the Band Played On premiers at the Montreal World Film Festival.
Based on Randy Shilts best-selling non-fiction book, And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, the film follows an epidemiologist and San Francisco activist as they navigate the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
september 2
1993
SEPTEMBER 2, 1993
WITS STUDY
1993
U.S. Public Health Service recommends the use of Zidovudine for pregnant mothers living with HIV to reduce perinatal viral transmission.
These recommendations were made after the results of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group Protocol 076 showed it could reduce the risk of transmission from mother to child by 2/3rds.
1993
DECEMBER 23, 1993
Philadelphia opens in theaters.
It was the first major Hollywood movie to focus on the subject of AIDS. In the film, Tom Hanks plays Andrew Beckett, a gay attorney who is unjustly fired from his job because he suffers from AIDS. Denzel Washington co-starred as Joe Miller, a homophobic personal injury lawyer who takes on Beckett’s case and comes to terms with his own misconceptions about gay people and the disease.
Tom Hanks would receive the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Beckett.
december 23
1993
DECEMBER 1995
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves Saquinavir, the first protease inhibitor. This is the start of Highly Active AntiRetroviral Therapy (HAART), which uses a combination of medications to fight the virus today, is understood as a groundbreaking moment in HIV treatment, drastically improving the chances of surviving and thriving for people living with HIV.
Today, protease inhibitors make up a major category of anti-HIV medicines by blocking the action of the enzyme protease, which is needed for the virus to make more HIV.
december
1995
JANUARY 25, 1996
The musical Rent debuts on Broadway.
Loosely based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera, La Bohème, the musical follows a group of young artists struggling to survive and build lives in New York City’s East Village, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. Groundbreaking for its depictions of the LGBTQ+ community, the show also gave a new “mainstream voice” to those living with HIV/AIDS.
Moving to Broadway in April, the show would be performed 5,123 times over a 12-year run. Today, it is the 9th longest-running Broadway musical of all time.
JANUARY 25
1996
OCTOBER 1996
The National AIDS Memorial Grove is designated as the nation’s AIDS Memorial.
Located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the memorial was first conceived by a group of San Francisco residents hoping to establish a place for collective grief and healing, while their communities were devastated by the pandemic.
OCTOBER
1996
1998
Minority AIDS Initiative was created in U.S., after African American leaders declare a “state of emergency” and the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) calls on the Department of Health and Human Services to do the same.
1998
“The Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) was created in response to growing concern about the impact of HIV/AIDS on racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. It provides new funding designed to strengthen organizational capacity and expand HIV- related services in minority communities.”
SEPTEMBER 26, 1997
The FDA approves Combivir, a combination of two antiretroviral drugs in one tablet. The medication is groundbreaking in efforts to simplify therapy for people living with HIV.
SEPTEMBER 26
1997
2001
Dee Dee Chamblee founds LaGender, Inc.
Addressing the needs of the Metro Atlanta transgender community, specifically trans women of color, the organization focuses on issues of homelessness, incarceration, discrimination, and, particularly, living with HIV.
2001
2005
The Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study Network is founded.
The PHACS Network conducts longitudinal cohort studies investigating the long-term effects of HIV and antiretroviral (ARV) medications in children and young adults who were born with HIV or born exposed to HIV. The network’s studies follow newborns, young children, adolescents, young adults, and women affected by HIV.
2005
2009
The Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study’s first national Community Advisory Board (CAB) is founded.
The mission of the PHACS CAB is to serve as a connection between researchers and community members in order to improve and optimize clinical research studies for children/families who are participants, and who are most affected by the research.
Membership reflects the diversity of PHACS’ national clinical sites and includes women living with HIV, caregivers of young people living with HIV, and community members affected by HIV.
2009
JULY 16, 2012
The FDA approves the use of Truvada® for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Adults who do not have HIV but who are at risk for infection can now take this medication to reduce their risk of getting the virus through sexual activity.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis works by setting up fortified “walls” around CD4 cells. These walls keep HIV from crossing into the healthy cells and replicating.
2012
JULY 16
2013
The Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study’s first national Young Adult Community Advisory Board (YACAB) is founded. They later rename themselves the Peers United Group (PUG).
The PUG includes adolescents and young adults with perinatal experience of HIV – either born with HIV, or born without HIV to a mother with HIV. The mission of this group is to provide guidance and perspective to researchers on how to make the overall PHACS study better for young adults who are participants and to offer relevant support to young adults involved in PHACS.
2013
mAY 27, 2003
The United States Leadership Against Global HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 is signed into law. This created the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest health program worldwide for a single disease.
Today, it is estimated to have averted 25 million deaths from AIDS and enabled 5.5 million babies to be born free from HIV infection in low- and middle-income countries around the world. Collectively, these countries are home to 78% of all people living with HIV.
MAY 27
2003
2006
2006
The founding Principal Investigators of PHACS, Drs. George Seage and Russell Van Dyke, speak about the importance and impact of PHACS research.
2016
2016
The Prevention Access Campaign Launches U=U campaign.
Meant to combat the stigma of HIV, the campaign aims to educate others about Undetectable = Untransmittable. When individuals living with HIV are on effective treatment, the antiretrovirals can suppress the virus to a level too low to be measured (undetectable). When the virus is undetectable, it can’t be transmitted.
2017
Dr. Ana Puga speaks about the impact of working with children living with HIV as a clinician.
2017
2014
PUG member Andrew talks about the importance of advocacy.
2014
JUNE 3, 2018
Pose debuts on FX.
Set in New York City’s 80s and 90s, the series follows African American and Latinx gay and trans members of NYC ball culture, an LGBTQ+ subculture, as they navigate life and the raging AIDS crisis.
JUNE 3
2018
2018
Community Member Maria talks about "making a difference" through PHACS.
2018
january 15, 2021
The FDA approves Cabenuva (cabotegravir and rilpivirine, injectable formulation) the first long-acting injectable HIV treatment given once a month. This is the first alternative to a daily oral treatment regimen.
January 15
2021
2018
Dr. Rohan Hazra of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development speaks about the importance of the longitudinal studies that the PHACS Network conducts.
2018
2020
The PHACS Network is awarded renewed funding as a Program Project, supporting our multidisciplinary, long-term research program to further investigate the safety of early antiretroviral and HIV exposure as our participants continue to age into adulthood. Both SMARTT and the AMP Up Series continue, along with a new protocol, TERBO BRAIN, investigating the long-term neurological impacts of early ARV and HIV exposures.
The Program Project also includes two new Cores, the Epidemiological and Statistical Methods Core and the Health Education and Community Core.
A team of four Principal Investigators lead the Program Project: Drs. Paige Williams, Ellen Chadwick, Jennifer Jao, and Sonia Hernandez-Diaz.
2020
2021
Painting: Michelle Benne
2021
Dr. George Seage, one of the founding co-Principal Investigators of PHACS, passes away.
Dr. Seage was an epidemiologist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who worked in the field of HIV since the beginning of the epidemic. He served as the first director of the Massachusetts AIDS Surveillance Program, published over 200 papers during his career, and brought insight, brilliance, and empathy to his research.
“George was an exemplary leader and advocate for people living with HIV/AIDS. He was a gifted scientist whose contributions will continue to inspire many generations of scholars, myself included. He was also our very own advocate, who took PHACS to unimaginable places and levels.
We are so grateful to him.”
- Dr. Mariam Davtyan,
University of Southern California site
It’s a Sin debuts in the UK.
​
This poignant drama series charts the thrilling and emotional journey of a tight-knit group of friends living in London during the 1980s, a decade forever changed by the AIDS crisis.
January 22
2021
JANUARY 22, 2022
june 5, 2021
June 5, 2021 marks forty years since the first case of AIDS was reported.
JUNE 5
2021
jUNE 2, 2021
AIDS Garden Chicago opens.
​
AIDS Garden Chicago is the city’s first public monument to memorialize the early days of Chicago’s HIV epidemic, and to honor those who continue to fight against the disease today. Its first phase was completed in 2019 with the installation of its anchor piece, ‘Self-Portrait,’ a 30-foot sculpture by iconic late artist and activist Keith Haring.
​
JUNE 2
2022
2024
Community member Lenny shares a guide to navigating health insurance with HIV.
2024
"Managing health insurance when you have
HIV can be a bit tricky, but there are ways to make it easier.
This essay aims to provide practical advice for managing health insurance, tailored specifically for individuals living with HIV."
2023
The largest gathering of lifetime survivors of HIV took place in Washington, DC as part of the Dandelions Movement.
The name Dandelions comes from the spoken-word piece by the poet, activist, and lifetime survivor Mary Bowman, who passed away in 2019 at the age of 30.
2023
The timeline above is presented for educational purposes only. We do not own the copyright to any of the written, audio, and/or visual media presented in the timeline. PHACS does not endorse any organizations or viewpoints of sources. Where possible, specific dates have been provided in chronological order.
All sources can be found here. The timeline is regularly checked to ensure accuracy, but due to the growing nature of the timeline, some inaccuracies may occur. For suggestions, corrections, or all other inquiries please email phacs.hecc.leadership@fstrf.org
bottom of page