Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH

Deputy Commissioner, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

I still get emotional talking about the early days of the AIDS epidemic not because I’m sad, but because I can’t believe how different the story is today. No one ever has to get sick.

 

Charlene Flash, MD

Associate Chief Medical Officer, Legacy Community Health in Houston, TX

Twenty years ago, people would say I was crazy to say, ‘I want to end AIDS.’ But that time is here.

 

David Malebranche, MD, MPH

Associate Professor, Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA

What I want to remind you is that the most important activism you’re going to do is for yourself. Speak out. Get the sexual health you deserve. Be empowered. Be strong. Be fierce. Because even if the world tells you the opposite, you’re worth it.

 

Leandro Mena, MD, MPH

Medical Director, Open Arms Healthcare Center and MPH Chair of Population Health Science, John D. Bower School of Population Health in Jackson, MS

I do this work for my patients. The feeling that you can make a difference in people’s lives. That there is so much need, gets me up every morning.