Cornelius Baker will be at the DC Center Fall Reception on Friday October 12th to present one of our distinguished service awards.

Cornelius Baker has been a committed HIV/AIDS advocate at the local and national level for nearly two decades. He is currently a technical advisor and project director of Testing Makes Us Stronger, a campaign of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to promote HIV testing by black gay men, and co-project director of the Be the Generation Bridge, an effort funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) to build partnership and support for HIV vaccine research among U.S. populations most affected by HIV/AIDS. He also serves as the Senior Advisor for the National Black Gay Men's Advocacy Coalition, which is dedicated to addressing the exceptionally and unacceptably high rates of HIV infection among U.S. black gay men. In February 2010 he was appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.

Cornelius will present the distinguished service award to Ron Simmons. Ron Simmons, Ph.D., has served as the Executive Director or President/CEO for 18 years. Under Dr. Simmons leadership, what began as a self-help group for HIV-infected Black gay men is today one of the largest Black AIDS organizations in the nation serving men, women, transgender persons, and youth. Since 1992, he has raised over $22 million to fund the programs and services of Us Helping Us. He is a member of the District of Columbia Board of Medicine, and served for six years on the Health Department's HIV Prevention Community Planning Group. He was a founding member and former treasurer of the National Black Gay Men's Advocacy Coalition.

Please join us this Friday for the DC Center Fall Reception: click here to purchase your tickets and learn more about the event