September 30th Media Event Kicks Off AIDS 2020 – the 23rd International AIDS Conference to be Held in San Francisco and Oakland

Conference Co-Chairs, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, California State Senator Scott Wiener and Other Public Officials to Speak

20,000 Participants from 170 Countries Expected to Converge on the Bay Area

The 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020) organizers will convene public officials and community leaders on Monday, September 30th to shine a spotlight on stories of resilience that have shaped the HIV response. The event will also focus on what to expect at AIDS 2020 and the unique and large-scale collaborative effort that took place between San Francisco and Oakland to secure the bid to host the world's largest conference on HIV and AIDS.

The first AIDS conference to be hosted in two cities concurrently, AIDS 2020 is returning to the Bay Area three decades after it was first held in San Francisco. More than 20,000 participants from 170 countries are expected to attend the event which will be held in both San Francisco and Oakland, July 6-10, 2020.

Established in 1985 with a focus on the intersection of science, advocacy and human rights, AIDS 2020 is the largest conference of its kind. The biennial event will bring together scientists, policy makers, healthcare professionals, people living with HIV, funders, media, and community to share the latest knowledge and advocate for effective action to address HIV and related epidemics.

As the core theme of the conference, organizers will share an overview of the AIDS 2020 Profiles in Resilience campaign. Bay Area artists have been commissioned to create works that will feature the unique stories of people from around the world who are living with HIV and AIDS, and those affected by the epidemic, such as clinicians, activists and community members.

Who: Media, community leaders, public officials, sponsors and supporters of AIDS 2020. Speakers will include:

• Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Representative for California's 13th District, co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus
• London Breed, Mayor of San Francisco
• Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland
• Scott Wiener, California State Senator
• Cynthia Carey-Grant, AIDS 2020 Local Co-Chair – former Executive Director of Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening Diseases
• Monica Gandhi, AIDS 2020 Local Co-Chair – Professor of Medicine and Associate Division Chief of the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine at the University of California San Francisco / Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital

Additional speakers are expected to be confirmed. A complete list, including those available for media briefings, will be available upon request.

Editor's Note: Local co-chairs, Dr. Gandhi and Cynthia Carey-Grant will be available for briefings prior to and immediately following the event. They can discuss the conference theme and objectives, as well as the impact on local and global communities.

When: Monday, September 30, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. PT

Where: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation - 185 Berry Street, Lobby 1, Suite 2000, San Francisco, CA - 94107 (MAP)

• For those who cannot attend in person, a link to the livestream will be provided prior to the event.

The International AIDS Conference is the premier global platform to advance the HIV response. As the world's largest conference on HIV and AIDS, it sits uniquely at the intersection of science, advocacy and human rights, bringing together scientists, policy makers, healthcare professionals, people living with HIV, funders, media and community. Since its start in 1985, the conference continues to serve as an opportunity to strengthen policies and programmes that ensure an evidence-based response to HIV and related epidemics. The 23rd International AIDS Conference – known as AIDS 2020 – will be hosted in San Francisco and Oakland, US, on 6-10 July 2020 with the theme, Resilience. AIDS 2020 will gather more than 20,000 participants from more than 170 countries. For more information, visit www.aids2020.org.

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