Remembering the AIDS Crisis in the Time of COVID-19: How Lessons from One Epidemic can Guide the Response to Another

The LGBTQ Policy Center at Hunter College and the New York City Commission on Human Rights presents a Live Zoom panel discussion on the lessons learned from the AIDS epidemic and how they can inform and improve the policy response to the Coronavirus crisis.

With remarks by Carmelyn P. Malalis, Chair and Commissioner of the New York City Commission on Human Rights

Carmelyn P. Malalis was appointed Chair and Commissioner of the New York City Commission on Human Rights by Mayor Bill de Blasio in November 2014 following more than a decade in private practice as an advocate for employees' rights in the workplace. Prior to her appointment, Commissioner Malalis was a partner at Outten & Golden LLP where she co-founded and co-chaired its Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Workplace Rights Practice Group and its Disability and Family Responsibilities Discrimination Practice Group; and successfully represented employees in negotiations, agency proceedings, and litigation involving claims of sexual harassment, retaliation, and discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, pregnancy, disability, and religion. Commissioner Malalis earned her J.D. from the Northeastern University School of Law and received a B.A. in Women's Studies from Yale University. She and her wife live in Brooklyn with their two children.

The Panelists:

Wafaa El-Sadr is the founder and director of ICAP at Columbia University, University Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine and Mathilde Krim-amfAR Professor of Global Health at Columbia University.

Ruth Finkelstein, ScD, translates interdisciplinary scientific knowledge on aging and its societal implications into policy-focused practice. Since the beginning of 2018 she has been the Rose Dobrof Executive Director of the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging at Hunter College.

Lynnette Ford is the Senior Vice President, Programs and Prevention Services at GMHC. She has 20 years of experience in the administrative and clinical management of HIV/AIDS care, prevention, education, substance use, and case management programs.

David France is the author and the director of the award winning book and documentary, How to Survive A Plague. His new movie about the genocide facing LGBTQ people in Chechnya, Welcome To Chechnya, debuts on HBO this month.

Sarit A. Golub is a professor of Psychology at Hunter College. She directs the Hunter Alliance for Research & Translation (HART), whose mission is to translate research findings into practical implications for service and advocacy organizations, accelerating the pace of equitable, just, empirically-based practice.

Manoj Pardasani is Acting Associate Provost for Graduate and Professional Education. Dr. Pardasani started his social work career in senior centers, sparking a lifelong passion for the study of senior centers and community-based services for older adults. He also served as a social worker, and then an administrator, for a number of organizations serving the homeless, people living with HIV/AIDS and individuals diagnosed with serious mental illness.

Charles Kaiser is the author of The Gay Metropolis, and Acting Director of Hunter College’s LGBTQ Policy Center at Roosevelt House.

This event will be held online via Zoom.

RSVP for Zoom details.