On Tuesday, September 18 from 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m, Aging Positively, the annual Coachella Valley conference aimed at providing practical information as well as inspiration for those aging with HIV, will explore housing, sexual health and dating, and employment strategies. And this year, The Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) co-founder Dr. Michael Gottlieb will provide the keynote address.

People with HIV are living longer lives, thanks to advancements in scientific research and medical treatments; about half of HIV positive individuals in the US are age 50 and above. This is in stark contrast to the days when Desert AIDS Project was founded (1984) as well as amfAR (1986), when HIV was a death sentence.
 
Speaker line-up:
 

  • Moderator: Brad Fuhr, California Oasis Marketing Group and Gay Desert Guide
  • Key Note: Dr. Michael Gottlieb, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Olympia Medical Center
  • Senior Housing Options Presented by Damien O’Farrell, President & CEO of Path of Life Ministries and Lindsay Sisti, Riverside County Housing Authority
  • Sexual Health and Dating by Nina Ruedas, UC Riverside School of Medicine
  • Employment Development by Michael Patrick Cohen, Workforce Development Center, Indio

 
About Dr. Michael Gottlieb
 
In 1981 Dr. Michael Gottlieb the first to document unusual infections in gay men. Along with his UCLA associates, Drs. Weisman and Shandera, he described the CD-4 cell deficiency. This was a groundbreaking step in the journey to identify and fight the HIV virus as we understand it today.
He has been involved with AIDS for the life of the epidemic and remains prominent in HIV treatment research. In 1985 with Elizabeth Taylor, he founded the National AIDS Research Foundation in Los Angeles, which quickly merged with AIDS Medical Foundation in 1986, to become The Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).
 
Dr. Gottlieb currently is working to prevent new cases of HIV by making PrEP and PeP more commonly used in the U.S., and he also works for AIDS relief in Malawi, Africa. He is an advisor to the board of the Elizabeth Taylor Foundation.

He is in the private practice of HIV medicine in Los Angeles, and is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Gottlieb is a graduate of Rutgers University and the University of Rochester School of Medicine.
To find out more about Dr. Gottlieb, please visit: michaelgottliebmd.com