Conference Updates

Last year at USCHA I stood in a room and said We are not long-term survivors, but we are LIFETIME SURVIVORS.

Recently, I had the extreme pleasure of attending the 2023 Motown Experience: Birth & Breastfeeding Conference hosted by the Black Mothers' Breastfeeding Association in Detroit, MI.

The Well Project had a strong presence at one of our favorite events! This spirited, informational gathering convenes each year in New York City.

It all started a few months ago when CAB (community advisory board) member Samantha Rose Montemayor sent me a message and said, "Marissa, we should be at this event."

"While this year I was not a presenter, I was able to participate in the exhibition hall representing The Well Project as a proud member of the CAB (community advisory board). I was able to interact with over 248 people that stopped by our table to get information on women living with HIV."

"[The session] was a reminder that when society tries to invoke a negative reaction to one's experience, it is ultimately up to the individual on how they choose to respond to those negative views, what their truth will be, and how they choose to show up in the face of such adversities."

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend the Women as the Face of AIDS Summit hosted by Iris House again this year. It was the second in-person summit since the COVID pandemic began, but I was attending virtually. I was still honored...

The agenda for the 2023 Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada, in April promised a gathering that would "focus on consensual sex in all of its iterations." The Well Project community advisory board chair Marissa Gonzalez was in attendance at the summit; as you will learn from her session summaries, the event did not disappoint!

At some point, the refusal to change the language starts to feel more like disrespect and less like old habits – which is one of the excuses I heard for the behavior. I do believe language is behavior, not just a tool for communication. The science community needs to do better.

How is health misinformation a public health threat? An example would be the estimate that more than 300,000 deaths could have been prevented by vaccinations people didn't get because of refusing vaccines. It also erodes public trust.