DC CFAR Community Advisory Board (CAB) member, Martha Sichone-Cameron was recently featured as a "Positive Organizing Shero" on The Body, a national online resource for people living with HIV/AIDS. The article details how Martha started her work in HIV/AIDS in Zambia, her home country, where she worked with individuals affected by the HIV epidemic. After moving to the US and attaining her MPH, Martha joined The Women's Collective (TWC) where she served as their Director of Public Policy, and eventually becoming the Director of Prevention. She currently oversees four prevention programs including testing and linkage to care, PrEP education and referral, social networking strategy, and youth STD school-based testing. Click here to view the full article on The Body.com.
Martha also represents The Women's Collective on the DC CFAR CAB. Marcia Ellis, DC CFAR CAB Chair, relates that "Martha lends her considerable passion and knowledge as an informed, outspoken, consistent, and fierce advocate for the critical importance of women's leadership, engagement, and visibility in research. She is often called upon to be a spokesperson on panels and at meetings as a voice for and participant in effective research that benefit women, girls, and their families. She is a very respected voice at those tables and all benefit greatly from what is learned and shared from her example as well as her own inspirational life story." Martha also works closely with DC CFAR Investigator, Shawnika Hull, on her pilot award entitled, "Understanding Determinants of Intentions to Utilize PrEP Among Black Women". We are grateful to Martha for her continued collaboration with the DC CFAR, and for her tireless work in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Washington, DC.