Our initial Advisory Board comprised four members.

On October 12th, AIDS-Free World lost our treasured friend and Advisory Board Chair, Dr. Allan Rosenfield, and the world lost a brilliant mind, an unparalleled spirit and an indefatigable defender of women's rights. 

A mentor to countless and a friend to infinitely more, Allan lived his life in relentless pursuit of social justice.  We were proud to be counted among the legions who could call themselves Allan's friends:  he helped to shape AIDS-Free World, honored us with his devotion to our advocacy work, and never stopped surprising us with his genuine interest in every aspect of the organization.  Allan showed us all by example what it means to be extraordinary -- to lead and to follow, to teach and to learn, to aspire and inspire, to accomplish and to achieve, to bring laughter to friends and hope to strangers, to be equal parts principled and passionate, joyful and funny, and to live each day as a loving, beloved and thoroughly decent human being.

Allan was remembered upon his death in the New York Times (read Nicholas Kristof's article here) and he was honored during his lifetime when Columbia University paid tribute to his remarkable career.
 
We were honored by Dr. Rosenfield's service, and are fortunate to have the following advisors on our current Board, which is slated to expand over time.

TReasurer:

Linda Carrier-Walker is the Director of Development and External Relations for International Council of Nurses (ICN), a federation of more than 129 national nurses' associations representing the 13 million nurses working worldwide, with headquarters in Geneva. Ms. Carrier-Walker oversees the ICN’s development, external relations, corporate communications and advocacy initiatives with members and a wide variety of NGO, UN and corporate partners, and she has coordinated international health for development projects in collaboration with a range of stakeholders in the public and private sector. She has firsthand familiarity with Africa, its governance and structures and with mechanisms for supporting grassroots and community-based organizations, and has overseen the establishment of Wellness Centres for health sector workers in Swaziland and Lesotho, with Malawi and Zambia in prospect.  Ms. Carrier-Walker is also the General Manager of the World Health Professions Alliance secretariat, bringing together the International Council of Nurses, the World Medical Association, the International Pharmacists Federation and the World Dental Federation. She has served on the Board of Directors of the International Children’s Institute, the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR Quebec) and the Centre d'Action SIDA Montréal (Femmes).  She has worked as a journalist for several Canadian media outlets, as faculty at the Carleton University School of Journalism and as a senior communications advisor for a global communications company.

West African singer, songwriter and activist Angélique Kidjo was born in Benin and began her singing career at the age of six. She moved to Paris because of the unstable political situation in Benin, studied jazz and attended law school. Kidjo was appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in July 2002, and has traveled extensively in that capacity, raising awareness of the situations of children in developing countries. Among other political and humanitarian endeavors, Kidjo also volunteers her time and talents as an Oxfam campaigner.  The three-time Grammy award nominee has earned international respect for her music, which is steeped in the tribal and pop rhythms of her West African heritage and crosses musical and national boundaries by blending a variety of styles.  In her lyrics, Kidjo has explored the topics of race, environment, homelessness and the need to integrate. Her primary concern is education. Angélique Kidjo has long been actively involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS and in support of education. In 2007, she established the Batonga Foundation, whose mission is to support both secondary school and higher education for girls in Africa.

Dr. Julio Montaner is originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina.  He received his Medical Degree with Honors from the University of Buenos Aires in 1979.  In 1981, Dr. Montaner joined the University of British Columbia (UBC) at St Paul’s Hospital (SPH) where he completed his training in Internal Medicine and Respiratory Medicine.  While still in training, he led several clinical studies that demonstrated the role of adjunctive corticosteroids in PCP-related respiratory failure.  In 1988, he became the Director of the AIDS Research Program and the Immunodeficiency Clinic at SPH/UBC.  Since then, he focused his research in the development of antiretroviral therapies and management strategies.  In the mid 90’s, he played a key role in establishing the efficacy of NNRTI based highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).  This was one of the pivotal contributions emerging from the IAS-sponsored Vancouver 1996 International AIDS Conference, of which he was a co-organizer.  He is a Professor of Medicine at UBC and has held the Endowed Chair in AIDS Research at SPH/UBC since 1996.  He is a founding Co-Director of the Canadian HIV Trials Network.  He is the Director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.  He has been a member of the International AIDS Society since 1988, an elected member of the North American Region since 2002 and the current President (2008-2010).  Dr. Montaner has authored over 350 scientific publications on HIV/AIDS.  His current research interests include HAART as prevention, optimal use of HAART, salvage therapy, new antiretrovirals, as well as hard to reach populations and harm reduction.  He has recently received the inaugural Avant-Garde Award of $2.5 million over 5 years, from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to support his project entitled “Seek and Treat for Optimal Outcomes and Prevention in HIV & AIDS in IDU (STOP HIV/AIDS)”.

Winstone Zulu is Zambia's most prominent advocate/activist living with AIDS. A journalist by trade, his past achievements include a weekly column in the Zambian Post, which he penned while simultaneously running a daycare for children orphaned by AIDS and an employment counseling project in Western Zambia under the umbrella of Kara Counseling. Winstone has been celebrated worldwide for his public focus on the devastation of AIDS, and particularly on TB as a co-infection. He attended the Paris World AIDS conference in 1994; participated in the meeting in Como, Italy, where UNAIDS was formed in 1996; and served on numerous international working committees addressing the exploding AIDS epidemic.  When they appeared together on a platform at the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok in 2004 to give prominence to TB, Nelson Mandela said of Winstone,  “There have been so few TB survivors who have stepped forward to share their stories. We need more advocates like Winstone to tell the world about TB and the effect it has on so many millions of people." Last year, Winstone received an award from WHO’s "Stop TB Partnership"; so far this year, he has had an audience with the Prime Minister of Japan, advocating to put AIDS and TB firmly on the agenda of next year's G8 meeting.

Watch a short film prepared by the Gates Foundation and featuring Winstone’s stop-TB advocacy.