Jeff Simmons Author

Why Did a Generation of Cubans Choose to Become HIV-Positive?

It’s considered the “Special Period” in Cuba’s history: when the Soviet Union cut financial ties with Cuba. During the late 1980s under the socialist Castro regime, where...

How Do You Fight HIV/AIDS in the Red States of the Deep South?

How do you raise vital funds to fight AIDS in a state that’s politically dominated by a party that tends not to make it a priority? This spring, the world’s largest single HIV...

NMAC: Leading the Way to Create a Generation of Leaders

How can we address the still-alarming rates of HIV infection among minorities? The answers may lie in giving them a seat at the decision makers’ table. By 2019, Linda Scruggs...

SpectrumScores: Finding HIV Care at Your Fingertips

Three classmates are helping people living with HIV — and LGBTQ people — find the treatment they deserve. The concept came to Phil Williams and two classmates at the...

Dr. Evan Goldstein Uses “Tail Talks” to Break Down the Stigma of Bottoming

Why one doctor left a career in cardiac surgery in order to concentrate on the needs of his LGBTQ clientele, and the new way he’s getting his message across. Dr. Evan Goldstein...

“Angels in America:” A New Book Looks Back

As Angels in America had its moment at the Tony Awards, a fascinating book looks back at the evolution of the play that became a phenomenon. A quarter of a century ago, Tony...

Alan Cumming Grapples With Survivor’s Guilt “After Louie”

In After Louie, Alan Cumming plays a man haunted by the past and dismayed by the future. But might he still find hope? Survivor’s guilt occurs when a person believes he has done...

West Hollywood Memorializes the Plague with a New AIDS Monument

Once upon a time, a gay and glamorous city was struck by a terrible plague; this is how we never forget. As AIDS cases rose in the early 1980s, regions like New York City, San...

Black Pastors Take to the Pulpit to Address Rising HIV Challenges in Their Communities

An organization aims to address rising rates of HIV in black communities from an under-unexplored position of power — the pulpit. Ultimately statistics became the unavoidable...

Safe Sex Kits Get a Hot Makeover from the Designers at Marc Jacobs

How do you make being prepared with protection something everyone wants to do? Ask one of fashion’s favorite names. The novel fashion accessory unveiled by Marc Jacobs last...

Puerto Rico’s Poor HIV Patients Are Among the Last to See Hurricane Relief

Puerto Rico continues to suffer in the aftermath of Maria; what does that mean for people living with HIV? Nearly a half year since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, a...

A Healthy Poz Patient on No Meds Helps Scientists Target HIV

The story of two lives — a man with a unique physiology and a scientist seeking a cure — both dedicated to changing the course of the AIDS epidemic. 2008 stands out as a...