In October, AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC)'s board of directors voted Craig W. Johnson as the next AFC board chair. Craig has served on the board since 2017, and most recently worked as board vice chair and chair of the Policy and Advocacy Committee.
"I have so much respect for AFC as an organization and the team of dedicated individuals who have consistently been leaders regarding client services, programming, as well as policy and advocacy from the beginning of the HIV epidemic," Johnson said in a statement.
Diagnosed in 2004 with HIV, Johnson's professional career in the HIV sector began as a research assistant and community health promoter in the Infectious Diseases Unit at Rush University Medical Center. There, he developed communications strategies to counteract health disparities and encourage more underrepresented populations to participate in HIV clinical trials.
Johnson also was a liaison between the health sector, community organizations and advocacy groups focused on HIV prevention, care and research. Internally, he worked alongside renowned HIV research physician Dr. Kimberly Smith MD, MPH, whose intentional research on the HIV epidemic's impact on communities of color deeply inspired him.
Raised on Chicago's South Side, Johnson—a Black gay cisgender man with Mexican ancestry—attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School and went on to graduate from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, with a B.A. in social and management studies.
