Reflections on USCHA 2025
Russell Campbell, HANC Director
September 4 - 7, 2025, Washington DC, USA
The 2025 United States Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA) took place September 4 – 7 in Washington, DC. The theme of the conference was Aging with HIV. It was an honor to attend and participate in the following workshops and institute with my amazing colleagues:
Aging with HIV and Your Pharmacist: More years, More Medications
Dr. Kenric Ware
Sex Never Gets Old: HIV/STI Prevention for Older Adults
Dazon Dixon Diallo, Carlos Rodriguez-Diaz, Murph Fuentes, and Kenric Ware
The HIV/AIDS Nexus: Despair, Research, Hope, Movement
Moises Agosto, Lynda Dee, Dazon Dixon-Diallo, Daniel Castellanos, and Steven Sawyer
I would like to give a special shout-out to the 3-hour Institute: Sex Never Gets Old: HIV/STI Prevention for Older Adults which featured the debut of the Sex Never Gets Old campaign which was specifically designed for older adults to encourage conversations around sexual health with healthcare providers, researchers and other adults. This campaign features older adults for the purpose of encouraging meaningful discourse around the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV. It was wonderful seeing and hearing the responses of over 95 attendees of the institute to the campaign. A special thanks to the other co-presenters and to the 50+ HIV Prevention Working Group members for making this possible.
There were many amazing and inspiring speakers including Jeanne White-Ginder (the mother of Ryan White), Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr., Anthony S. Fauci, and Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Being in community is always a highlight of USCHA and it was wonderful being around thousands of other folks who came seeking knowledge, encouragement, and fellowship during a time of such uncertainty.
It was great to take part in the USCHA 2025 activities to honor Paul Kawata for his 36 years of serving as NMAC CEO and personally congratulate Harold Phillips as the new NMAC CEO. Paul Kawata has done an amazing job over the past three decades from the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic to the present. There was so much excitement and support at USCHA for Harold Phillips as the new NMAC CEO. I was one of the many voices that communicated directly to Harold that I couldn't think of anyone else who is more strategically positioned and experienced to lead NMAC into the future.
"“For people coming up (in HIV work) today, you are writing the book on fascism and what you do today will be the story that will define the rest of your lives.”
Paul Kawata, now retired, decades long Executive Director of NMAC