Phill Wilson, the preeminent commentator on AIDS and Black America, is the Founder and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute, the only national HIV/AIDS think tank in the United States focused exclusively on Black people. The mission of the Institute is to end the AIDS pandemic in Black communities by engaging and mobilizing traditional Black leaders, Institutions and individuals in efforts to confront HIV/AIDS. The Institute Wilson has spent the past 25 years battling the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Prior to founding the Institute in 1999, Wilson served as the AIDS Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles, and the Director of Policy and Planning at AIDS Project Los Angeles. He was co-chair of the Los Angeles County HIV Health Commission, and was a Presidential appointee to the Health Resources and Services Administration AIDS Advisory Committee.

Mr. Wilson was a member of the U.S. delegation to the 1994 World AIDS Summit in Paris, and has worked extensively on HIV/AIDS policy, research, prevention, and treatment issues in Europe, Africa, and India. He has been the coordinator of the International Community Treatment and Science Workshop at the past four International AIDS Conferences. He co-founded the National Black Lesbian & Gay Leadership forum and the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention, and has been involved in the founding of a number of other AIDS service organizations and community-based organizations, including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and the National Minority AIDS Council.

In his current role, Mr. Wilson directs the Institute’s many efforts to stop the AIDS pandemic in black communities. The Institute works with Black institutions across the diaspora– churches, civil rights groups, professional associations – as well as the media to mount an effective response to the HIV epidemic in Black communities.

Currently a syndicated columnists with AOL/Black Voices, and TheRoot.com, Mr. Wilson has had many of his works published, including articles appearing in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Essence, Ebony, HIV Plus and POZ magazine. He has earned many distinctions for his AIDS advocacy work. In 2001, the Ford Foundation presented Mr. Wilson with an award for “Leadership for a Changing World.” His other awards include the Delta Spirit Award from the Delta Sigma Theta LA chapter, and the Discovery Health Channel’s “Medical Honor.”

Having been infected in 1980, Mr. Wilson is regarding as one of the longest living people with AIDS in the country.

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