Posted on November 10, 2014
Prior to joining Generation Tomorrow I performed HIV testing in Seoul, Korea and participated in community outreach to migrant workers and the LGBT community. Being able to work with local community members, leaders, and organizations to bring awareness and provide testing to Baltimore was my primary motivation for joining Generation Tomorrow. I could not be more excited to work with Project Re_ as well as the Special Projects and Outreach Team (SPOT) to provide testing and educate the community about the importance of knowing your status and the resources that are available to help them.
Generation Tomorrow has been an amazing experience. I have attended multitudes of seminars and HIV and Hepatitis C training, volunteered at the Bridging the Gap symposium, and helped organize future events with SPOT. Collectively, these opportunities and experiences have helped me understand the great amount of care and responsibility that people and organizations have for the people and community of Baltimore. The biweekly seminars, which are given by speakers who are leaders in their field, have been incredibly helpful in better understanding active engagement in HIV and HCV research and care services (i.e., social media campaigns, treatment and care, LGBT sensitization). With this experience in Generation Tomorrow, it has become clear that establishing a comprehensive approach to treating and preventing HIV requires strong multidisciplinary networks that work synergistically to tackle the issue from both a policy and healthcare standpoint. I hope to take the strategies and future experiences that I have learned here and apply them to other local communities both domestically and internationally.
