CHICAGO - The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) announced today its appointment of Julie Davids, the founding Executive Director of Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), to the newly-created post of Director of National Advocacy and Mobilization.
"Julie is a longstanding leader in HIV/AIDS activism rooted in principles of social justice," said David Ernesto Munar, incoming President/CEO of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. "Julie's leadership will strengthen our local and national community advocacy efforts toward large-scale systems changes. Julie understands that socio-economic injustices are root causes of the HIV epidemic. Effective responses to the burgeon HIV epidemic must aim to halt socio-economic injustices that make some people more vulnerable to HIV disease than others."
Although she is new to the organization's staff, Davids has a long history of collaboration with AFC, most notably as coordinator of the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance (HIV PJA — preventionjustice.org ). This national network of over 80 groups works to build a unified, effective movement for HIV prevention. In addition, Davids worked closely with AFC policy staff and allies to launch the International Rectal Microbicides Advocates (IRMA) and the Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy.
After seven years as an independent non-profit, CHAMP decided in 2010 to close its operations and transfer management of the HIV PJA to AFC. The transition of Davids along with the coalition will allow her to continue its development while lending her expertise to a range of national advocacy, training, and policy initiatives led by AFC's policy team, such as doseofchange.org .
Davids has been an AIDS activist since joining ACT UP Philadelphia in 1990. In 1996, she co-founded Project TEACH (Treatment Education Activists Combatting HIV), which has trained thousands of people living with HIV as peer educators and advocates in Philadelphia. She later served as the first community organizer for Health GAP, which fights for global HIV treatment access. She founded CHAMP in 2003 as an initiative to strengthen mobilization networks, develop new leadership and launch campaigns for sound HIV prevention policy.
"From realizing the vision of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy in a time of deep economic inequity, to tackling the social injustices that fuel the epidemic in our country, there's a lot to do and many obstacles to surmount in the coming years," Davids said. "But I've been so fortunate to be able to work with dedicated, creative and passionate people in our shared struggles against HIV/AIDS for many years — and we've seen how much we can achieve -- and am honored to continue that work with the team at AIDS Foundation of Chicago in overcoming these challenges and building a stronger HIV/AIDS movement."
Davids has worked on a wide range of HIV/AIDS and justice issues, including HIV prevention, treatment access, research, harm reduction, economic justice and LGBTQ liberation. She is known as a strategic thinker, facilitator, and communicator, working across boundaries of race, class, gender and sexual orientation to craft effective advocacy and mobilization campaigns.
She is a recipient of the amfAR Award of Courage, the Partner in Hope award from Project Inform, and was chosen of one of 25 national LGBTQ leaders honored by AIDS Project Los Angeles for the 25th anniversary commemoration last year. Along with AFC colleagues David Munar and Jim Pickett, she was selected as one of the "POZ 100" by POZ magazine in 2010.
Currently, Davids is an External Expert Advisor to the Strategic Working Group of the Division of AIDS at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at NIH, as well as an advisory committee member for the strategic plan for the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She also serves as an advisor to the U.S. Positive Women's Network, and on the Convening Group of the Federal AIDS Policy Partnership (FAPP).
Read more about Davids' accomplishments at aidschicago.org/davids.
