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AIDS Activist Honored For Leadership
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: March 27, 2008 - 1:00 pm ET
(Los Angels, California) AIDS advocate Gregg
Gonsalves has been selected as the first-ever recipient of the $100,000 John M.
Lloyd AIDS Leadership Award.
An AIDS activist for 17 years, Gonsalves has
played a major role in international efforts to accelerate AIDS research and
improve access to lifesaving drugs. He is currently based in Cape Town, South
Africa, where he coordinates a regional AIDS and TB treatment advocacy program.
Gonsalves coordinates regional AIDS and TB
treatment literacy and advocacy programs for the AIDS and Rights Alliance of
Southern Africa, a network of African AIDS and human rights organizations. He is
also a founding member of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, a
network of more than 1000 people from 125 countries advocating for universal
access to HIV/AIDS and TB treatment.
Gonsalves was formerly Director of Treatment and
Prevention Advocacy for Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) and co-founder of the
Treatment Action Group, both in New York City. Prior to that, he was a member of
the Boston and New York chapters of ACT UP.
The John M. Lloyd Foundation was established in
1991 by John Musser Lloyd to seek creative, compassionate, and courageous
solutions to the root causes of the AIDS epidemic. Each year, the foundation
awards approximately $400,000 in small grants to groups and organizations.
This is the first leadership award it has given/
"We created this award to recognize and
support the 'unsung heroes' of AIDS activism, and Gregg certainly fits the
bill," said Melanie Havelin, Executive Director of the John M. Lloyd
Foundation. "Gregg's visionary work on behalf of people living with HIV has
had a major global impact."
Zackie Achmat, founder and chairman of the
Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa, said, "Gregg Gonsalves is one of
the most remarkable leaders and activists I have met in the HIV epidemic ... He
is comfortable speaking to presidents, international agencies, and community
leaders. Gregg assisted the Treatment Action Campaign in conceptualizing our
national treatment literacy campaign and continues to support its work together
with major advocacy efforts in the Southern African region."
Gonsalves also received kudos from Dr. Anthony
Fauci, Director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases.
"Gregg Gonsalves is a most distinguished
HIV/AIDS and human rights activist. His impact on the HIV research and public
policy agenda in the United States has been profound," he said.
Larry Kramer, celebrated author and AIDS
activist, said that Gonsalves is "the absolutely best person in this world
to exemplify leadership and activism and brains and talent and expertise,
certainly in the field of HIV/AIDS but in anything."
©365Gay.com 2008
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