Members & Staff

The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) consists of up to 35 members, including the Chair or Co-chairs, who are appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Members are selected from prominent community leaders with particular expertise in, or knowledge of, matters concerning HIV and AIDS, public health, global health, population health, faith, philanthropy, marketing or business, as well as other national leaders held in high esteem from other sectors of society. PACHA members include persons with lived HIV experience and racial/ethnic and sexual and gender minority persons disproportionately affected by HIV. Council members provide advice, information, and make recommendations to the Secretary, Assistant Secretary for Health, and to the Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy.

The members, classified as special government employees, serve for overlapping terms of up to four years. Members may serve after the expiration of their term until their successor has taken office and/or until notified in writing that their term has ended or expired, but no longer than 180 days. The Council has a nonvoting liaison representative from the Centers for Disease Control/Health Resources and Services Administration Advisory Committee on HIV, Viral Hepatitis, and STD Prevention and Treatment (CHAC). The Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy provides staff support to PACHA.

Current Members

Marlene McNeese, MBA
PACHA Co-chair

Guillermo Chacón

Philip Chan, MD, MS

Tori Cooper, MPH

Raniyah Copeland, MPH

Mackenzie Copley

Alicia Diggs, MPH

Jennifer Kates, PhD

Paul Kawata, MA

Duvia Lozano, LMSW

Tiommi Luckett

Jesse Milan Jr., JD

Deondre Moore

Leo Moore, MD, MSHPM

Laura Platero, JD

Kayla Quimbley

Natalie Sanchez, MPH

Patrick Sullivan, PhD

Jeff Taylor

Marvell Terry II

Hansel Tookes, MD, MPH

Carole Treston, RN, MPH

Dafina Ward, JD

Darrell P. Wheeler, PhD, MPH

Wendy Armstrong, MD, FIDSA
CHAC Liaison

PACHA Staff

Caroline Talev, MPA
Executive Director, PACHA

Chloe Loving, MPH

Member Biographies

Term: 08/04/2021 to 08/04/2024

For the past 26 years, Marlene McNeese has played a leadership role in redefining public health and community-based support systems that address HIV prevention, chemical dependency, mental health, communicable disease, and post-incarceration syndrome. In 2004, Ms. McNeese began her tenure with the Houston Health Department where she currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Director overseeing the Bureau of HIV/STI and Viral Hepatitis Prevention. Ms. McNeese is currently nearing completion of her master’s degree in business administration from Texas Woman’s University, but her proudest accomplishment to date is the 30 years of recovery from substance use disorder and her mentorship of others to achieve the same.

Ms. McNeese is a passionate and dedicated advocate and champion of HIV prevention, and the trajectory of her career reflects her sense of commitment. She has extensive leadership experience with local and national advisory councils and boards, having served as past chair of the Houston Area Ryan White Planning Council, co-chair for the Houston HIV Prevention Community Planning Group, and past board chair for NASTAD.

Term:  08/04/2021 to 8/4/2025

Mr. Chacón’s work focuses on promoting access to care, addressing stigma, and developing agendas on health policy issues affecting the health of Hispanics. Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed Guillermo Chacón to serve on the New York State Vaccine Equity Taskforce in 2020 and the New York State AIDS Advisory Council, and re-nominated him for the New York State Minority Health Council to serve until 2023, for which the New York State Senate later confirmed him in July 2020. Mr. Chacón was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to serve as commissioner on the New York City Commission on Human Rights in November 2019, to the HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) community advisory board, and to the Committee on New York City Healthcare Services. Mr. Chacon also serves on various boards and committees, including the New York City COVID-19 Vaccine, Test & Tracing (VT2) program as part of Community Advisory Committee (CAB T2); the National Hispanic/Latinx Health Leadership Network; the New York Immigration Coalition; and the New York City AIDS Memorial. He also serves as an advisor for Alianza Americas and AIDSVu.org, and co-chairs the Latino Jewish Coalition in New York.

Mr. Chacón was born in El Salvador and is currently living in New York. He studied education at the National University of El Salvador and attended Fordham University in the Organizational & Leadership Program.

Term:  09/20/2023 to 09/20/2027

Philip A. Chan, MD, MS, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and School of Public Health at Brown University. He is a primary care and infectious diseases physician. Dr. Chan is Chief Medical Officer at Open Door Health, the state’s only community-based LGBTQ+ clinic. Dr. Chan also serves as Consultant Medical Director for the Rhode Island Department of Health Center for HIV, Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Tuberculosis Epidemiology. He is working both locally and nationally on multiple initiatives related to the care and prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI), as well as at Open Door Health to deliver cutting-edge and culturally appropriate healthcare to the community. He is the principal investigator of multiple NIH and other programmatic grants and has over 200 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Chan is committed to improving the health of his community and public health in general by integrating clinical medicine, public health, research, and training/education.

Term:  08/04/2021 to 08/04/2024

Tori Cooper is a Health & Equity Consultant, CDC subject matter expert, educator, published author, and leader in the transgender and HIV communities who recently was honored as one of the most influential LGBTQ Georgians by OUT Georgia in 2020. She leads with more than 30 years of experience at all levels of HIV service, from volunteer roles to her role as executive director and founder of her own consulting agency, Advocates for Better Care Atlanta, LLC. She now serves as the Human Rights Campaign’s Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative. In this role, her focus includes economic empowerment, capacity building programs, public safety, and expanding public education campaigns.

Term:  08/04/2021 to 8/4/2025

Raniyah Copeland is a seasoned public health and racial justice expert. As the founder of Equity & Impact Solutions, she advances health, gender, and racial equity within Fortune 500s, government, and social justice organizations by equipping them with culturally relevant skills, tools, knowledge, and relationships.

Prior to setting up her equity-focused consulting practice, Ms. Copeland spent 14 years at the Black AIDS Institute, the nation’s only HIV advocacy organization focused on Black Americans. By first building and co-leading programs for health access, community advocacy, and leadership development, she then became the organization’s first Black woman CEO. Two years of her remarkable leadership acumen resulted in the strongest revenue generation, program expansions, and team growth in the organization’s 24-year history.

Appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) in 2021, she also serves on the LA County Division of HIV & STD Program’s Ending The HIV Epidemic (EHE) Steering Committee in Los Angeles, which is a priority jurisdiction for the federal government’s EHE initiative.

Ms. Copeland has an undergraduate degree in Public Health and African American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master’s in Urban Public Health from Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science. She, her husband, and three sons live joyfully in Los Angeles

Term:  09/20/2023 to 09/20/2026

Mackenzie Copley is the Co-Founder & CEO of One Tent Health, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization that has offered free, fast, canvas tent-based HIV screening, PrEP linkage, and other critical services in the most underserved neighborhoods of our nation’s capital. He started One Tent Health in 2015, during his senior year at Georgetown University, after seeing uninsured people being turned away from free HIV testing and knowing it was wrong.

Following school, Mackenzie spent two years as an intellectual property litigation consultant, while building One Tent at nights, until the organization launched services in 2017. In the years since, along with a great team, he has led One Tent Health to screen thousands of people for HIV, identify new cases at a rate of more than four times the city’s average (per research authored by a team at Harvard Medical School), grow to over 2,000 local undergraduate volunteers, and test over 10,000 people for COVID-19 during the pandemic. While at Georgetown, Mackenzie studied Economics and Physics, and in his spare time, he can be found running around outside and thinking about how to make the world a better, fairer place; especially for people who could use help.

Term:  06/01/2020 to 6/1/2024

Alicia Diggs is a native of Philadelphia, PA, who resides in North Carolina. She has a bachelor’s degree in Social Work, a master’s degree in Public Health, and has completed doctoral courses for a PhD in Public Health with a focus in Advocacy and Leadership. Ms. Diggs works for the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Center for AIDS Research (UNC-CFAR) as the Manager for the Office of Community Engagement.

Ms. Diggs is a member of the REPRIEVE Community Advisory Board and Publications Committee, the North Carolina State Lead for the Positive Women's Network-USA, PLWH Caucus, Wake Forest Baptist Health ANCHOR Study Community Advisory Board, HIV Prevention Community Advisory Council (HPCAC), National Community Advisory Board (NCAB) for the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), SisterLove 2020 Leading Women’s Society, and a participant of “I’m Still Surviving” a living women’s history of HIV/AIDS.

Ms. Diggs has spoken for various organizations, schools, universities, community health events, conferences, and churches as well as appeared on several news and radio stations including BET’s Wrap It Up Campaign. She also became a published author in July 2017 with an autobiography entitled, Standing on My Healing: From Tainted to Chosen.

Term:  11/15/2021 to 11/15/2024

Dr. Jen Kates is Senior Vice President and Director of Global Health & HIV Policy at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), where she oversees policy analysis and research focused on the U.S. government’s role in global health and on the global and domestic HIV epidemics. Widely regarded as an expert in the field, she regularly publishes and presents on global health and HIV policy issues and is particularly known for her work analyzing donor government investments in global health; assessing and mapping the U.S. government’s global health architecture, programs, and funding; and tracking and analyzing major U.S. HIV programs and financing, and key trends in the HIV epidemic, an area she has been working in for close to 30 years. Prior to joining KFF in 1998, Dr. Kates was a Senior Associate with The Lewin Group, a health care consulting firm, where she focused on HIV policy, strategic planning/health systems analysis, and health care for vulnerable populations. Among other prior positions, she directed the Office of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns at Princeton University.

Dr. Kates has served on numerous federal and private sector advisory committees on global health and HIV issues, including PEPFAR’s Scientific Advisory Board, the NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council, the CDC/HRSA Advisory Committee on HIV, Viral Hepatitis and STD Prevention and Treatment (CHACHSPT), the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society. She is also a lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Dr. Kates received her Ph.D. in Health Policy from George Washington University. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts.

Term:  09/20/2023 to 09/20/2026

Paul Kawata has served as executive director of NMAC (formerly the National Minority AIDS Council) since 1989. NMAC leads the race to urgently fight for health equity and racial justice to end the HIV epidemic in America. Mr. Kawata provides strategic direction of the organization’s administrative, fiscal management, and fundraising infrastructure, and oversees its training, technical assistance, education, and national advocacy programs and initiatives. In addition, he conceived and developed the organization’s high-profile meetings, including the United States Conference on HIV/ AIDS (USCHA), currently the largest annual AIDS-related gathering in the country, as well as the Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit (The Summit).

A leading HIV/AIDS advocate, Mr. Kawata has represented NMAC in many of the most significant legislative achievements in the fight against the epidemic. These include the passage and renewal of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act; the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) Act; the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); and the Congressional Black Caucus/Congressional Hispanic Caucus expansion of federal funding for HIV/AIDS programs in communities of color.

Term:  09/20/2023 to 09/20/2027

Duvia Lozano, LMSW, is a bilingual Licensed Master Social Worker and the Program Director for Chicanos Por La Causa LUCES program. Ms. Lozano has been working with the LUCES Program (Latinos Unidos Contra El Sida) for 14 years and has developed a passion for working with the Latinx LGBTQ+ community. She has an extensive background in program management, mental health, substance abuse treatment, and is certified as a master of holistic healing. Under Ms. Lozano’s leadership, CPLC’s LUCES program has expanded services to include HIV direct services, prevention services, and an educational internship experience program for social work students attending local colleges and universities interested in educational opportunities for working with PLWH or at high risk of acquiring HIV in the Latinx community. CPLC LUCES direct services include mental health, substance abuse, medical case management, supportive case management, psychosocial support services, and an EHE Initiatives program for newly diagnosed Latinx individuals known as Fuerza Positiva University. The CPLC LUCES program also offers prevention services that include PrEP & PEP navigation, substance abuse prevention navigation, HIV testing, full-panel STI testing, behavioral health interventions, and a 340B pharmacy program.

Ms. Lozano is a member of the Phoenix Fast Track Initiatives Ad-Hoc committee, a board member of Aunt Rita’s Foundation, a member of the AZ Statewide Advisory Group, and a member of ASU School of Social Work Community Advisory Board. She chairs the Standards and Rules (STAR) committee under the Phoenix Metro Ryan White Planning Council, and chairs the Quality Improvement (QI) committee under Maricopa County Ryan White Part A services. Ms. Lozano is committed to providing access to care and improving health outcomes for people living with HIV and individuals at high-risk of acquiring HIV in the Latinx community.

Term:  09/20/2023 to 09/20/2027

Tiommi Luckett, BA, is a Senior National Organizer with the Transgender Law Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. She is a native of Arkansas and current resident of Little Rock. Ms. Luckett identifies as a woman of trans experience of African descent. She is interested in conversations about restorative and transformative justice. She is an advocate for ending HIV criminalization. As a Black woman of trans experience living with HIV in Arkansas, the potential for incarceration is ever-present.

Ms. Luckett believes that ending bailouts and pretrial detention, diverting resources to community for education, awareness, and sensitivity training can eliminate the continued murders of Black trans bodies everywhere.

Term:  09/20/2023 to 09/20/2027

Jesse Milan Jr., JD, is President and CEO of AIDS United a national organization focused on HIV policy, grantmaking, and capacity building. AIDS United has granted over $130 Million and its grantees and Public Policy Council organizations number over 200 in 40 states and territories. Mr. Milan is a lawyer whose career includes leading HIV programs and organizations at national, regional, and global levels. He’s addressed millions across the U.S. and Africa in keynotes, presentations, and sermons. He is currently board chair of Funders Concerned About AIDS (FCAA) and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for PEPFAR and on the Infectious Disease Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine. He served as AIDS Director for Philadelphia, was vice president for 15 years at two HHS contractor firms and was co-chair of the CDC/HRSA Advisory Committee on HIV and STD (CHAC). He is past board chair of the Black AIDS Institute and the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition. His many honors include from the American Bar Association, HRSA, POZ magazine, and the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the NYU School of Law. Mr. Milan is living with HIV for four decades.

Term:  09/20/2023 to 09/20/2027

Deondre B. Moore is a GLAAD Award winning human rights activist who has spent the last eight years of his life dedicating his time and resources to educating people and raising awareness all over the world regarding HIV and civil rights issues. Mr. Moore began his work in public health and advocacy after receiving an HIV positive diagnosis in 2014 at the age of 19 as a freshman at Sam Houston State University. Since his diagnosis, he has taken the education he has received and shared it with community members and peers across the globe. Mr. Moore currently serves as a board member to the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, Prevention Access Campaign (U=U), and PCAF.

Thanks to his meaningful and impactful advocacy effort to bring U=U to the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services, he was named PLUS Magazine’s 2022 Person of the Year. Mr. Moore continues to engage with various communities and organizations throughout the U.S. and around the world with emphasis in Black and Brown communities and other communities of color in order to provide resources, build meaningful partnerships, and to ensure that entities and organizations that he is connected to are expanding and operating at their full potential to continue changing the trajectory of and the way we look at HIV and prevention around the world.

Term:  08/04/2021 to 08/04/2024

Dr. Moore is the Medical Director for Clinic Services at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. In this role, he oversees eight public health centers throughout the county that specialize in HIV prevention, sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, and refugee health. He is a practicing internal medicine physician who provides STD screening and treatment, HIV prevention, and tuberculosis care. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Moore has overseen COVID-19 testing at outbreak locations and mobile vaccination teams providing vaccinations at skilled nursing facilities, faith-based organizations, local businesses, and recreational events.

Dr. Moore is a medical graduate of Morehouse School of Medicine. He completed his residency in Primary Care Internal Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, and is an alumnus of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, through which he completed his Master of Science in Health Policy and Management at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Moore is a thought leader who is committed to ending the HIV epidemic in the United States, with a focus on Black and Latinx communities. He has presented at multiple conferences and advised various governmental and non-governmental agencies, including but not limited to, the United States Conference on AIDS, the CDC HIV Prevention Conference, the HIV Adherence Conference, National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and the National Alliance for State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD).

Term:  08/06/2020 to 8/6/2024

Laura Platero is citizen of the Navajo Nation currently living in Portland, Oregon. Ms. Platero has spent at least 20 years serving tribes and the American Indian community in various advocacy roles. She is currently the Executive Director of the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB), a Public Law 93-638 and non-profit organization with 70 staff. NPAIHB serves the 43 federally-recognized tribes of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

Ms. Platero served as NPAIHB’s Director of Government Affairs from 2016 to 2019. From 2014 to 2016, she served as a Legislative Associate at the National Congress of American Indians focused on implementing the Affordable Care Act to ensure that the federal trust responsibility was upheld. In 2013, she served as a consultant, nationally, working with tribal organizations and advocates in health policy analysis and advocacy. From 2008 to 2013, she worked in the General Counsel/Government Relations Office at the Laguna Development Corporation, a tribal corporation of the Pueblo of Laguna.

Her passion for Native health was instilled while working as Deputy Director of the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center (NNAAPC). NNAAPC was the heart of HIV prevention, treatment, training and resources for American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities and two spirit people.

Ms. Platero earned a Juris Doctor Degree with a Certificate in Indian Law from the University of New Mexico, was the Managing Editor of the of the Indian Law Journal; and received the Mary Beth & W. Richard West, Jr. Award for Excellence in Indian Law. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from the University of Southern California.

Term:  08/04/2021 to 08/04/2024

Ms. Kayla Quimbley is a youth activist who works to combat HIV stigma, decriminalize HIV, and raise awareness online and in communities. She is also a member of Advocates for Youth’s Engaging Communities around HIV Organizing (ECHO) program that uses a social justice framework to shift culture and policy by elevating the voices of young people living with HIV. ECHO leaders work to increase the inclusion of young people living with HIV in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of reproductive justice related programming and policies, especially on issues of LGBTQ health and rights, immigrant rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Ms. Quimbley is not only an activist, but she is also a traveling poet, working to raise awareness through her words using her platform.

Term:  09/20/2023 to 09/20/2026

Natalie Sanchez, MPH, manages a network of providers serving over 400 women, infant, children and youth living with HIV in Los Angeles. She has dedicated over 20 years of her career to reducing HIV and improving medical outcomes in communities of color. Ms. Sanchez has created and led some of the largest and most successful multicultural HIV campaigns, as well as implemented a combination of public health strategies to reduce HIV infections in Southern California. She is well known for her work as a creator, executive producer, and writer of the award-winning telenovela web series “Sin Vergüenza” which addresses HIV in Latino communities. Her experience includes implementing routine HIV and hepatitis screening, streamlining treatment in multi-site health centers, PrEP implementation, and developing PrEP training videos and curriculum for medical providers. She produces educational films as a part of her innovative programming showcasing Latinos, Black/African Americans, and LGBTQ+ persons as main characters in their own lives.

Ms. Sanchez is a two-time UCLA graduate with a Master’s in Public Health and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology. She is a member of the California Department of Public Health Office of AIDS Planning Group, the Los Angeles Women and HIV Task Force, and the National Latinx HIV Conference.

Term:  09/20/2023 to 09/20/2026

Dr. Patrick Sullivan is an infectious disease epidemiologist whose career in HIV prevention research and public health has included work in basic sciences to understand the mechanisms through which HIV causes illness, public health surveillance to document the epidemiology of HIV infections and the health inequities in the epidemic, development andf testing of interventions to reduce new HIV infections, digital communications to increase the use of data to end the HIV epidemic, and implementation science to translate effective interventions into public health practice. His career and volunteer experience has spanned many organizations involved in HIV prevention and care: he has volunteered as an HIV counselor/tester at AID Atlanta, has worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has worked in leadership roles of multiple NIH network science organizations (HVTN, HPTN, ATN, CFAR), and has developed and led AIDSVu.org, a public HIV data resource with over a half a million users annually. Dr. Sullivan’s research focuses on the health and health disparities of the groups most impacted by the HIV epidemic: racial and ethnic minority people, sexual and gender minority and gender expansive people, and people living in the US South.

Term:  12/6/2023 to 12/6/2027

Jeff Taylor serves as the Executive Director of HIV and Aging Research Project – Palm Springs where he conducts community-based research on aging in HIV. HIV+ for 38 years, Mr. Taylor has served as a community advisor to many research groups—beginning with the UCSD AntiViral Research Center Community Advisory Board (CAB), and (what is now called) the Community Scientific Subcommittee of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG). He currently serves on the National Cancer Institute's AIDS Malignancy Consortium’s ANCHOR Study CAB, the CAB for the Collaboratory of AIDS Researchers for Eradication (CARE) Collaboratory, the Gladstone amfAR Cure Institute CAB, the UCSF Delaney AIDS Research Enterprise (DARE) CAB, the UC Riverside Clinical Institutional Review Board (IRB), the Eisenhower Medical Center IRB, and on the Clinical Advisory Panel for a California Institute for Regenerative Medicine-funded trial at City of Hope. Mr. Taylor also serves on the AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition’s Drug Development Committee, which meets regularly with pharma and the FDA on HIV drug development issues. Locally, he produces a monthly treatment education series on HIV treatment issues for HIV patients and providers.

Term:  09/20/2023 to 09/20/2026

Marvell L. Terry II is an activist and cultural organizer from Memphis, Tennessee. It was the moment he received a positive diagnosis of HIV that jump-started his more than decade-long career that has had a local, state, and national impact. Mr. Terry started his advocacy work by co-leading an HIV ministry, being an HIV tester, and volunteering on community task forces. He founded his own organization: The Red Door Foundation (2010) and started the Saving Ourselves Symposium (2013), a one-of-a-kind conference in the South for the Black LGBTQ community to address health, wellness, and social injustices.

Mr. Terry has worked with the Young Black Gay Men’s Advocacy Coalition Policy and Advocacy Summit as co-chair of the Organizing Committee (2014); Human Rights Campaign Foundation as an HIV Fellow (2015) and AIDS United as a Senior Program Manager of the Southern HIV Impact Fund (2018).

Mr. Terry is a former board member for Hope House and advisory board member for Wake Forest University School of Divinity. His published written works can be found in the Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice and Rhetoric of Health & Medicine. You can read an extended bio about Marvell and his work at www.marvellterry.comExit Disclaimer.

Term:  09/20/2023 to 09/20/2026

Hansel Tookes, MD, MPH, joined the faculty of the University of Miami in the Division of Infectious Diseases after completing his residency in Internal Medicine at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He is the principal investigator of the University of Miami IDEA Lab whose mission is to implement, disseminate, educate, and advocate for the health of people who use drugs. The IDEA Lab also houses the IDEA Exchange, Miami’s syringe services program – the first of its kind in Florida. Dr. Tookes spent five years lobbying the Florida Legislature for the creation of the program as an evidence-based intervention to help decrease Miami-Dade’s soaring HIV rate. In 2016, Dr. Tookes succeeded, and the Infectious Disease Elimination Act pilot was signed into law. Today, Dr. Tookes serves as medical director of the IDEA Exchange and successfully passed the Infectious Disease Elimination Act of 2019 authorizing statewide expansion of syringe services programs.

As a physician at Jackson Memorial, one of the largest public hospitals in the nation, Dr. Tookes works closely with patients with HIV. He is an advocate for health equity and has extensive experience working with both patients of low socioeconomic status and individuals who use drugs. Dr. Tookes’ research interests include behavioral interventions and innovative approaches to HIV prevention. He is a 2021 recipient of a $2.5M NIDA Avenir Award which will test his innovative Tele-Harm Reduction model in a randomized controlled trial. He has received numerous honors, including Miami Chamber of Commerce Healthcare Hero, Starbucks Upstander, and SAVE Champion of Equality.

Term:  09/20/2023 to 09/20/2026

Carole Treston, RN, MPH, ACRN, FAAN, is the Executive Director of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC), a global nurse membership organization headquartered in Washington, DC, supporting the development, engagement and leadership of nurses in HIV related issues in the U.S. and globally.

Ms. Treston is a Registered Nurse who has worked in HIV/AIDS clinical care, prevention, research, education and health policy since 1987, including a 4-year appointment as the Director of Operations for the NIH-funded PACTG/IMPAACT research network. She has been a member of local, national, and global boards and appointed committees and has served as principal investigator on funded projects related to the intersection of HIV, health care, and social justice and the important role of nurses in health care and health policy.

She is an experienced nurse clinician with a Master’s Degree in Public Health/Health Policy from Columbia University and is board certified thru the HIV/AIDS Nursing Certification Board. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and serves on the PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board. She is proudest of being a member of the global nursing profession and workforce and is dedicated to compassionate, evidence–based person-centered health care.

Term:  09/20/2023 to 09/20/2027

Dafina Ward, JD, is an attorney and non-profit strategist with nearly 15 years of experience addressing HIV and health equity issues in the southern United States. Working in partnership with a range of advocates—from grassroots leaders to federal decision-makers—she is a trusted voice in regional and national spaces. Ms. Ward currently serves as Executive Director of the Southern AIDS Coalition (SAC), an organization with a regional focus and national reach, with a mission to end the HIV and STI epidemics in the South. SAC utilizes community-centered policy advocacy, grantmaking, leadership development, and capacity building trainings to support transformation in the region. SAC created Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day in 2019, a nationally recognized annual awareness day created to amplify the region's epidemic. SAC also convenes critical community spaces, including the annual Saving Ourselves Symposium (SOS).

Ms. Ward shares her reflections on the intersections of race, gender, and health through writing, with work appearing in the Washington Post, Role Reboot, and The Body. She was recognized by POZ Magazine twice in 2021—as the July/August POZ Hero and as a member of the 2021 POZ 100 (the magazine’s list of the 100 most influential Black HIV advocates in the nation). Ms. Ward received her B.A. in Mass Media Arts from Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta, GA) and her Juris Doctor from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law (Philadelphia, PA). She and her husband reside in the South Carolina Lowcountry and are the proud parents of two brilliant daughters.

Term:  08/04/2021 to 8/4/2025

Darrell P. Wheeler is the ninth President of the State University of New York at New Paltz, appointed in July 2022.

Dr. Wheeler brings to the role more than 30 years of teaching, research, and community partnership experience in health disparities research with extensive scholarly work with local and national Black men who have sex with men communities. His research, teaching, and community engagement work has demonstrated a deep understanding of the use of data and evidence in developing innovative programs and policy initiatives, especially related to health with marginalized and oppressed groups.

Dr. Wheeler currently is on the Executive Management Committee of the HIV Prevention Trials Network and co-chairs the HIV Prevention Trial Networks HPTN Scholars Program, a mentoring program to foster career development among underrepresented minority scholars.

Dr. Wheeler received his Ph.D. in social work and MPH in health administration from the University of Pittsburgh, his MSW in health/mental health from Howard University, and his B.A. in sociology from Cornell College. He served in the United States Air Force and as an intern officer in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

Liaison: CDC / HRSA Advisory Committee on HIV, Viral Hepatitis, and STD Prevention and Treatment

Wendy Armstrong received her MD from Harvard Medical School and completed her Internal Medicine residency and Infectious Diseases (ID) fellowship at the University of Michigan. From 2001-2007, she was Co-Director of the HIV/AIDS Center at the Cleveland Clinic. She joined the Emory University Division of Infectious Disease in 2007 and is now Professor of Medicine, Associate Division Director for ID, Vice Chair of Education and Integration for the Department of Medicine, Fellowship Program Director and Executive Medical Director of the Ponce de Leon Center, Infectious Diseases Program (IDP) at Grady Health System. The IDP is a Ryan White funded program that provides comprehensive care to more than 6,000 persons living with HIV in the Atlanta metro area.

Dr. Armstrong is a past chair of the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) and is currently the HIVMA representative to the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) Board of Directors. She is the HIVMA Chair of the IDWeek Program Committee and is a member of the CDC/HRSA Advisory Committee on HIV, Viral Hepatitis and STD Prevention and Treatment. In Atlanta, she has been active in local advocacy efforts, is the former co-chair of the Fulton County Task Force on HIV/AIDS and was named the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “Healthcare Hero” Physician of the Year in 2016.

Staff

Caroline Talev, MPA, has served as Executive Director of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) since March 2024. Ms. Talev had managed the advisory committee since 2012 and has served as the Alternate Designated Federal Officer since 2019. As a Senior Management Analyst for the HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy she focuses on addressing HIV and AIDS, syphilis and congenital syphilis, and other issues.

Ms. Talev’s nearly 15-year public service career has been dedicated to advancing the health and well-being of all people. She began her work at HHS in the Office on Women’s Health in 2012 before joining OIDP. During her time at HHS she has served on the White House Office of National AIDS Policy special task force on Employment and People Living with HIV/AIDS and on a detail assignment with the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement to work with the Unaccompanied Children’s Program. Ms. Talev's perspective extends beyond the borders of the United States. Previously, she was an advocacy research fellow at All Women's Action Society in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she focused on policy issues aimed at creating a democratic and equitable society where women are free from violence and discrimination.

Ms. Talev earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Central Florida and her Masters in Public Administration from American University.

Dr. Timothy Harrison is the Principal Deputy Director of the HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP), where he has provided dedicated leadership during his more than 20 years of federal service. In this role, Dr. Harrison assists the Director in providing guidance and oversight of OIDP’s broad portfolio, including HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, STIs, vaccines and immunization, blood and tissue safety and availability, antimicrobial resistance, and OIDP’s four federal advisory committees.

Dr. Harrison’s work, particularly through his management of the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund, has focused on efforts to reduce infectious disease health disparities and improve health outcomes for racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities, and other vulnerable populations. He also works to support, develop, and implement new strategies to increase access to testing, prevention, care, and treatment services by addressing social and structural determinants of health among populations and geographic communities facing structural inequities.

For nearly 30 years, Dr. Harrison has worked to advance equity in the social safety net and public health. Prior to joining HHS, he was a policy analyst in the areas of low-income housing, welfare, and workforce development and was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Rochester’s Government Department and Frederick Douglass Institute, and an Adjunct Professor of Government at Georgetown University. He holds an MA and a PhD from Northwestern University and a BA from Swarthmore College. 

Emily Downes, MPH, is a Management Analyst in the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. A graduate of University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, she began her career as an ORISE Fellow in OIDP within the Division of Vaccines and Immunizations.

Her role as an Analyst within OIDP and its Division of HIV/AIDS focuses on collaborating with the White House Office of National AIDS Policy in the development and implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and its Federal Implementation Plan. She also assists in coordinating with the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) and the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC). Her prior experience include work in epidemiological research, health economics, and global public health. Ms. Downes’ received her Master in Public Health in Health Management and Policy from University of Michigan and her Bachelor of Arts from Loyola University Chicago.

Chloe Loving, MPH, is a Public Health Analyst for the HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) and works with several federal advisory councils including the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) and the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) while contributing to communications and other initiatives. Ms. Loving joined OIDP in 2021 as an ORISE Fellow supporting the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB).

Ms. Loving earned a master’s degree in public health from Virginia Tech. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) and Certified in Public Health (CPH) while presenting at several national conferences and facilitating workshops in the areas of sexual health, tobacco education, mental health, and mindful device use. As a health educator she designed and implemented programs promoting the wellness of college students, people who use drugs, individuals experiencing incarceration, and people in recovery from alcohol and/or drugs. Throughout the COVID-19 public health emergency, she addressed gaps in services for Latine communities in rural southern Virginia by applying her bilingual background to organize a series of Spanish speaking health clinics.