I was looking to build a career in HIV services, and FIGHT offered an appealing and unique mix of HIV treatment education, clinical care and research, supportive services, and access to technology.

My desk is in the AIDS Library, where I offer support for the Information Desk and am available for difficult resource-related questions. I edit the Greater Philadelphia AIDS Resource Guide and many related publications, like the HIV Clinic Guide and HIV Testing Sites. I coordinate Frontline TEACH, FIGHT’s treatment education class for HIV-negative people. I am a guest lecturer in Project TEACH on some of my favorite topics, including “How HIV Meds Work” and “Metabolic Complications.” I help coordinate, supervise, and train our team of Peer Educators. I offer a quarterly Orientation for FIGHT clients, where we share lunch and discuss all of the programs available at FIGHT. As with everyone who works at FIGHT, I have a lot of jobs within my job, and for me that keeps every day fresh.

One day, I taught “How HIV Meds Work” in Project TEACH in the morning. Later that afternoon, one of the class members was in the AIDS Library, and expressed his enthusiasm for the topic. I showed him a video on Youtube illustrating the mechanism of HIV meds. We had an extended conversation about chemical reactions, the development of HIV meds, and classroom dynamics. I love moments like this, where my different jobs build on and complement each other.

I am motivated by the people living with HIV who choose, every day, to keep up the fight. I am motivated by how far we’ve come in the struggle against AIDS, and what we have inherited and benefited from on behalf of those who came before. I am motivated by our progress toward the cure (hotter than ever!). I am motivated because every day, I get to play a part in someone getting something they need that they didn’t have the day before.