In this episode of ZERO HOUR—filmed in front of a live studio audience at the 2023 U.S. Conference for HIV and AIDS—four Black women take over the discussion table to take back their own narratives and to define their own roles in ending the HIV epidemic.

Because to truly understand the impact that discrimination, inequity, and stigma have on Black women, we need to hear from Black women themselves.

Our takeover hosts are:

Staci Bush, Senior Director of US Medical Affairs for Gilead’s HIV Franchise. Bush is a patient-first activist within the pharmaceutical space who focuses on building partnerships across the globe to transform minds and center prevention as a main tactic to ending the HIV epidemic.

Deborah Wafer, Senior Director of Public Affairs and U.S. Virology Community Engagement and Advocacy at Gilead. A women’s health and public health advocate with more than three decades of experience, Wafer works to address HIV and expand health equity by forging partnerships with community advocates and organizations.

Our guests are:

Marlene McNeese, an HIV prevention advocate who has worked to optimize public health and community-based HIV support systems for nearly 30 years. She discusses the ways that Black women must navigate medical systems that were never meant to support them—thereby creating lasting and urgent disparities in HIV prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

Erica Criddenton, a student at the University of Washington Medical School who studies the internal and external impacts of HIV stigma around the globe. She shares her professional insights with ZERO HOUR—and delivers a moment of personal vulnerability that moves and inspires hosts and live audience members alike.

This podcast was created and fully funded by Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILEAD, the GILEAD logo, and the & design are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc. © 2023 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. IHQ-UNB-6218 Date of Preparation July 2024.

References:

Ayangeakaa, S.D., Kerr, J., Combs, R.M. et al. Sociocultural and structural influences on HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Engagement and Uptake among African American Young adults. BMC Public Health 23, 1427 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16273-8

DHHS. Panel on antiretroviral guidelines for adults and adolescents. Recommendations for the use of antiretroviral agents in adults and adolescents with HIV. Updated March 23, 2023. Available at: https://clinicalinfo.hiv.gov/sites/default/files/guidelines/documents/adult-adolescent-arv/guidelines-adult-adolescent-arv.pdf. Accessed July 20, 2023.

Hill, Mandy J. DrPH, MPH. (2023, June 11). Qualitative Analysis of a Warm Handoff Linkage Approach for Cisgender Black Women to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP): A Systems Focus. UTHealth Houston. https://www.iapac.org/files/2022/12/Mandy-Hill-1129.pdf

PACHA. PACHA provides advice, information, and recommendations to the Secretary regarding programs, policies, and research that address HIV/AIDS. Started June 14, 1995. https://www.hiv.gov/federal-response/pacha/about-pacha

Funakoshi, Minami, Raychaudhuri, Disha. (2023, August 19). The rise of anti-trans bills in the US. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-HEALTHCARE/TRANS-BILLS/zgvorreyapd/