35+ Years of Care: Recapping the 2026 National Ryan White Conference

For nearly four decades, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) has transformed HIV care and treatment in the United States. Today, 91.4% of program patients receiving HIV medical care are virally suppressed, meaning they are living longer, healthier lives and cannot transmit HIV to others—a milestone achieved through many years of community collaboration and innovation.

In August 2026, nearly 7,000 people gathered in person and virtually for the 2026 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care & Treatment, hosted by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB). Every two years, the event brings together RWHAP and Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) initiative recipients and subrecipients, people with HIV, health care and service delivery providers, and federal, state, and local partners to highlight progress and shape the path forward.

This year’s theme, “Building on 35 Years of Care: Strengthening our Foundation and Advancing Access to End the HIV Epidemic,” captures the common purpose of the conference’s attendees. Dr. Stephanie Haridopolos, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and Director of National Health Communications for the Office of the Surgeon General, put it simply: “I remember in the 1980s when HIV was discovered. Now so many have achieved viral suppression and they are living long, healthy lives.”

Ryan White’s Legacy

In a special session on Day 2 of the conference, Jeanne White-Ginder revisited the story of her son Ryan White, the namesake of the program. 

She turned back the clock to 1984, when HIV was a new and frightening disease that most Americans did not understand. In December 1984, her 13-year-old son Ryan was diagnosed with AIDS after a blood transfusion. Doctors predicted he had six months to live.

When Ryan tried returning to school in Kokomo, Indiana, he faced fierce discrimination. He and his mother fought for his right simply to attend class, becoming the face of public education about AIDS.

Ryan lived five years past his prognosis, passing away in April 1990, a month before his high school graduation. His mother was invited to testify before Congress as they were considering passage of the Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act. Shortly after that, Congress renamed the CARE Act after Ryan White and voted to approve the legislation. President George H.W. Bush signed the Ryan White CARE Act into law on August 18, 1990.

Nearly four decades after the passing of her son, White-Ginder reminded the audience what the work has always been about: “We’re going to fight the disease, not the people who have it.”

Care in Action

Today, HRSA administers the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, providing a comprehensive system of HIV primary medical care, medications, and essential support services for low-income people with HIV. The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program provides care to more than 600,000 people with HIV—over half of all people with diagnosed HIV in the United States.

This progress reflects profound changes in the landscape of HIV treatment and care. As HRSA Administrator Thomas J. Engels notedExit Disclaimer: “We are making great strides and we’re seeing great success. The Ryan White [HIV/AIDS] Program is helping individuals to live better, healthier lives, and helping communities all across this great nation.”

Bringing the Community Together

The National Ryan White Conference delivers program and implementation updates, shares HIV care and treatment best practices, and provides training and technical assistance. As HAB Associate Administrator Heather Hauck described itExit Disclaimer, “It is an opportunity for the community to come together, in person and virtually, to learn from one another, and you can feel that energy in the conference space.”

For Antigone Dempsey, HAB Deputy Associate Administrator, that sense of community is personal. Reflecting on her experience after being diagnosed with HIV as a young woman, she recalled, “I was only able to access medical care and treatment because of this program, and I’m alive today because of this program. I don’t just want that for me—I want that for everyone.”

The conference offered a wide range of sessions, including:

• How health systems are addressing HIV in their communities
• Patient-centered, low-barrier care models that bring HIV treatment and care to people traditional clinics may miss
• How nutrition services can be integrated into the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program continuum of care
• How to responsibly adopt Super Intelligence (SI) in the Ryan White Program
• Maintaining and expanding care for people aging with HIV
• Turning innovation into measurable impact
• Turning lessons from the EHE initiative into broader public health impact

Attendees connected during workshops, in the exhibit area, and in hallway conversations, brought together from across the country by the common goal of ending the HIV epidemic.

Dr. Haridopolos summed up that commitment to community collaboration: “People are coming together, they are collaborating, they’re creating partnerships, and they are learning so they can incorporate those ideas when they go back to their clinics.” Those connections are what carry the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program’s work forward well after sessions end and attendees return home. 

The Road Ahead

The Ryan White Program Moving Forward framework is a shared call to action and roadmap for the program’s next chapter, focused on continuing to care for people already in the program while prioritizing efforts to reach people with HIV who are out of care and not virally suppressed.

In an interview,Exit Disclaimer HAB Senior Advisor Dr. Andrea Jackson laid out three key strategies behind that framework: (1) leveraging partnerships across Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Parts, public health agencies, health care organizations, community-based groups, and federal and non-federal partners; (2) engaging communities by working alongside people with HIV; and (3) using data to focus interventions and direct resources where they are needed most.

“With the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, the EHE initiative, and the Ryan White Program Moving Forward framework, we are going to make a significant impact and progress on ending the HIV epidemic,” said HAB Senior Advisor Yemisi OdusanyaExit Disclaimer.

But behind every strategy and data point is the same conviction that has driven the program for over 35 years: a commitment to keeping people in care, reaching those who are not yet in care, and making sure no one faces HIV alone. It is that spirit, as much as any framework, that will carry the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program forward.