MSMGF IAC Bloggers and Contributers

Mark S. King– Journalist, Video Blogger

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MSMGF is proud to be sponsoring Mark S. King’s video conference coverage of AIDS2016, where he will capture the colorful sights, sounds, and people who make the conference like none other in the world.  Mark has been writing about living with HIV since testing positive in 1985. His award-winning blog, MyFabulousDisease.com, chronicles his life and highlights programs and people in the global HIV arena.

 

 

 

Theodore Timothy Tsipiras Cameraman/Videographer

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Theodore Timothy Tsipiras is a 26 year old Australian who’s been living with HIV for 5 years. He is a long standing member of The Institute of Many, a social umbrella for HIV+ people used to connect with other positive people around the world. In a personal capacity he’s TIM’s Melbourne Events Coordinator and one of the faces for T.I.M’s first ever campaign “The Wizards of Poz” (http://theinstituteofmany.org/index.php/home/wizards-of-poz/)

He now works with Living Positive Victoria as a Senior Voices Project Officer, helping men and women over 50 use their personal narratives to advocate for change in the aged care sector, educating workers who haven’t much experience with HIV and sometimes carry stigmatizing beliefs. Being a recovering intravenous drug user, he now helps others gain perspective about drug use through national radio and television programs as well as appearing in articles explaining the complexities of growing up Greek and Gay in Australia.

 

Charlie Tredway

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Charlie Tredway is a 32 year old HIV advocate living in New Zealand. Although new to the community response to HIV he has in a short period of time secured roles as a moderator for The Institute of Many and as a board member for Body Positive in New Zealand and a facilitator for the Positive Leadership Development Institute. He is also the Community Engagement Officer for the New Zealand AIDS Foundation.

In the time since deciding to go public abou this positive HIV status on World AIDS Day 2014 he has been interviewed and shared his story on SameSame, Rise Up To HIV, Ending HIV, NZAF online, and New Idea magazine and has appeared on multiple TV news segments speaking out to combat stigma and misconceptions that surround HIV,  his struggle to reach an undetectable viral load, and the importance of regular sexual health testing. He has also been the face of the NZAF’s “More than HIV” campaign and one of the faces for T.I.M’s first ever campaign “The Wizards of Poz“. This year he was named one of HIV plus magazine’s 16 HIV Advocates to watch in 2016.

 

Niluka Perera

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Niluka is a young gay activist from Sri Lanka. He is working as the Project Officer of Youth Voices Count, a network of young gay and bisexual men and young transgender people in Asia and the Pacific. Young people and their rights have always been hispassion and he has been advocating for the rights of young gay/MSM and young transgender people since 2010. Niluka also currently serves as a member of the Global platform to fast track the HIV and human rights responses among gay, bisexual men andother men who have sex with men convened by MSMGF and UNAIDS as well as a member of the Community, Rights and Gender advisory group of Global Fund

He has been serving in the capacity of youth mobilizer in Diversityand Solidarity Trust, a LGBT organization in Sri Lanka before joining Youth Voices Count and has been a member and a core working group member of Youth Vices Count since 2012. Niluka is a English Honors graduate from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and also holds a diploma in International Relations from the Bandaranaike Center for International Studies, Sri Lanka

 

Sergio López

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Sergio López is a 22 year-old gay activist and current Program Officer with SOMOSGAY, a grassrootsorganization committed to the innovation of effective strategies against homophobia, the fight against HIV and AIDS and the promotion and defense of human rights in Paraguay. He became an active member of the group in late 2008, when he found himself involved with community-based activities carrying out logistical tasks as a volunteer as one of the organization’s youngest members.

His work is to offer support on monitoring and follow up management ofthe programs, serving to meet the needs of functionality and supporting all activities of the organization, as well to generate the dynamic execution of social mobilization even

 

Michael Clark

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Based in Bronx borough of New York City, Michael Clark has been a lifelong advocate for sexual health and wellbeing. Currently a student at CUNY-Hunter College, Michael is studying the relationships between health and human rights, particularly within refugee and displaced communities. His research interests include LGBTQ health, sex work, HIV stigma and socio-economic disparities. He is a Rainbow Scholar with the Fund for Education Abroad where he will be studying LGBT discrimination in the right to accessing health in East Africa.

 

Brian Kanyemba

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Brian Kanyemba has extensive clinical trials experience and has been with theDesmond Tutu HIV Foundation (DTHF) since 2008 and currently serves as the Key Populations Technical HIV Prevention Advisor and Key Populations Community Engagement Manager at DTHF and Advocates in HIV Prevention and AIDS (APHA). After serving ten years in the Zimbabwe National Army, he committed his career to working with vulnerable populations, particularly men who have sex with men (MSM). His previous experience includes HIV Prevention Research Advocacy Fellow with AVAC, a Bio-medical Researcher with the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation’s Men Division (DTHF) and an advocate with International Rectal Microbicides Advocates (IRMA).

Brian’s work is currently on providing technical expertise at DTHF and country level for integrated technical, policy and programme support on HIV with a focus on DTHF HIV Prevention, Treatment, care and support, advocacy and training and integrating with other technical and programme staff in Department of Health, SANAC and other local and regional developmental partners. Currently, Brian is Doctoral Candidate at School of Public Health and Family Medicine, Division of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Cape Town.

 

Jack Mackenroth

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Jack Mackenroth rose to fame as a fashion designer on the reality show, Project Runway. Now Jack is primarily known for his HIV activism. After being diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1989, Mackenroth has worked tirelessly to combat the stigma associated with HIV by living openly and being a role model through his professional and athletic endeavors.

Jack is the creator of the national anti-stigma campaigns #weareALLclean, the Shower Selfie Challenge, and HIV Equal (HIVequal.org) He served as the media strategist at Housing Works—a nonprofit in New York, which fights the duel crisis of homelessness and HIV/AIDS, where he created the #PrEPheroes campaign (prepheroes.org). He has traveled the world speaking at AIDS conferences, pride events, galas and fundraisers. He is currently the Senior Communications Officer at MSMGF (The Global Forum on MSM and HIV). Jack is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with a double degree in fine arts and sociology, he also attended the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York City. He can be found on all social media @jackmackenroth.

 

 

 

Vulane Mthembu

Photographer