THE FOUNDER'S Story
It’s a great pleasure to introduce myself to you because I want your help and support. My
advocacy for the elimination of HIV/AIDS came into being the moment the first person died in my arms in New York City in 1978. I saw my own death through the lives of the
many persons who were suffering from the lack of care, and a failing response that denied our
humanity. So now I have an opportunity to bring a vision to you. I am asking all HOOSIER
Churches, Colleges, and Universities throughout Indiana to support the Hoosier International AIDS Conference Scholarship Fund as together we work for a cure for HIV.
The Hoosier International AIDS Conference Scholarship Fund (HIACSF) which identifies and supports Hoosier adults and youth so that they can attend the 2022 International AIDS Conference in Montreal, Canada. The HIACSF funded the participation of 22 people (aged 16-84) from 8 counties in Indiana to attend the 2020 International Aids Conference (IAC) in Oakland and San Francisco, California (which became virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
As we look ahead to the 2022 IAC, I invite you to help us accomplish our mission. Our goal is to be inclusive and representative of the citizens of our state, especially those living with HIV/AIDS and their caretakers. We also hope to have representation particularly from our citizens between ages 18 – 30 who are 2x more likely to become HIV+ than other age groups.
The Major benefit of this endeavor is to give Hoosiers the transformative experience that will result from meeting 15,000 to 20,000 persons from around the world who are committed to ending the HIV/AIDS Crisis, as well as, advocate for the compassionate care needed by those who have been caught in its wake.
The future is in our hands. We invite you to join us in raising up new leaders for this important work, please go to www.indianaiac.com to donate to the scholarship fund, or to register as a participant for the IAC2022 (In-person in Montreal, or Online from Indianapolis on July 29 - August 2, 2022).
Thank you for this opportunity to share this vision for the citizens of Indiana who will
benefit from a more caring future for its people.
Sincerely,
Harold S. Brown, Jr.
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT OF THE HOOSIER INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE SCHOLARSHIP FUND
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS CREATE ADVOCACY, AWARENESS, AND EDUCATION
HIV Community Awareness Day In collaboration with Marion County Public Health Department and the Ryan White Planning Council TGA
Tim Ray Brown with Prof. Harold Brown in 2018
HIV Community Resource Day In Collaboration with Dress for Success and Indy HIV Resources and
John H. Bonner Neighborhood Community Center
Proceeds to BROTHERS UNITED
10th Annual Harvey Milk Dinner sponsored by IUPUI Student and Faculty Alumni Association 10/12/19
Pictured Belinda Drake, candidate State Representative district 35, partner Tia, and Harold Brown, Community Scholar IUPUI
Harold Brown accepted into full membership as first openly African American gay person living with HIVAIDS at Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church,Indianapolis
2018. "Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges"
BUMC Supports LGBTQ+ Community
Check me out as I play the piano after my workout with the Physical Therapist at the Neuroscience building at IU Health!
WATCH and LEARN how to have fun even through pain and loss due to Osteoarthritis brought on by HIV and AIDS over 41 years!
This is one of the reasons to visit the International AIDS and HIV Conference 2020!
I have learned that I can live with HIV and AIDS without losing out on being healthy, happy and alive!
Disclaimer: Don't break your back while dancing to the song played below!
Click the image below to start the video!
Bayard Rustin Gay Union Organizer who as Deputy Director organized the March On Washington, 1963. Friend with Harold Brown during student protest at NYU in 1968.
Building coalitions throughout Indiana offers us the greatest chance of successful intersection between community and its institutions. We have witnessed such an amazing moment of coalition building when we gathered to honor National Black Community Awareness Day at Watkins Park in Indianapolis. We have the best chance to decrease and end the prevalence and incidence of HIV in our Black Community through our action. I am proud to have been present and to have exhibited information about the International AIDS Conference 2020. We are now preparing for IAC 2022!
Timothy Ray Brown (1966- 2020) was an American considered to be the first person cured of HIV/AIDS. Brown was called "The Berlin Patient" at the 2008 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, where his cure was first announced, in order to preserve his anonymity, and because he lived in, and was treated in Berlin. He chose to come forward in late-2010. “I didn’t want to be the only person cured,” he said. “I wanted to do what I could to make [a cure] possible. My first step was releasing my name and image to the public.”
Eleven years later, nearly on the same date, at the same conference, it was announced that it appeared that a second man had been cured; he was called the "London Patient." He also received a bone marrow transplant to treat a cancer (Hodgkin's lymphoma) but was given weaker immunosuppressive drugs. The selected donor also carried the CCR5-Δ32 mutation.
Harold S. Brown, Jr., met Tim at the 2018 International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands. We shared our journeys. We dedicated ourselves to finding a worldwide, cost effective, treatment for everyone.
