Duane Wilkerson retired after 30+ years as a public health professional, focusing on HIV/AIDS. While an ordained United Methodist minister, he was trained in 1987 as an HIV/AIDS volunteer chaplain for San Francisco General Hospital, Ward 5A and Ward 86, where he spent four years helping mostly young men face death. During this time he served on the UCSF Human Research Committee, where he reviewed some of the earlier HIV drug research studies.

This experience changed his life and career. Returning to school, he obtained an MPH and was selected to be part of a CDC-funded national research project that created, implemented and evaluated two HIV school-based curricula for high school students that became part of CDC’s Division of Adolescent School Health’s “Programs that Work.”

Moving to WA State for family reasons, Duane spent four years with Washington State Office of HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention. He then spent ten years with the American Psychological Association’s (APA), Office on AIDS where he directed a CDC-funded, Technical-Assistance program for CDC’s Center for HIV, STD and TB. This program worked with all 50 State Health Departments, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, as well as over 120 AIDS service organizations, strengthening their prevention efforts in evidence-based science. In 1988, while with APA, Duane became a WIRB community board member.

Duane finished his public health/HIV career as the Executive Director of the Pierce County AIDS Foundation (PCAF) for ten years. PCAF provides case management services to over 700 people living with HIV in 5 counties. It also established an LGBTQA full-service youth program called Oasis. Oasis serves over 500 LBGTQA youth over 12 counties in Western WA. Duane served for four years on the WA State Governors Council on HIV. He continues to consult on issues of HIV prevention in WA State. He, like many others, has lost too many friends to HIV/AIDS over the past 40 years.

Speaker has no relevant relationships with financial interests to disclose.