Olayide Akanni

At-large

Country of Residence: Nigeria

Olayide Akanni is the Executive Director of Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria; a leading media-based organization, which seeks to contribute to the prevention, care and control of HIV and AIDS, and Tuberculosis in Nigeria.

Over the past seven years, Olayide has served in various capacities in JAAIDS and several other advocacy-based coalitions, including the African Civil Society Coalition on HIV/AIDS, in promoting HIV/AIDS and TB treatment literacy, capacity building for media and civil society groups, and policy monitoring on universal access to prevention, treatment and care services.

She has also been actively involved in monitoring the status of access to treatment issues for HIV/AIDS and TB in Nigeria, having served as country researcher under the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) "Missing the Target Report" and the "Civil Society Perspectives on TB research" supported by the Open Society Institute (OSI), New York.

She also serves on several groups including the Board of the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research Alliance (SAHARA), the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for TB of the World Health Organization (STAG-TB), Nigeria National TB/HIV Working Group and the New HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Advocacy Society (NHVMAS).

Prior to joining JAAIDS, Olayide worked as the Health Correspondent for Punch Newspapers, a leading National Newspaper in Nigeria. Olayide holds a Masters degree in Biochemistry from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Don Baxter

Asia-Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organizations (APCASO)

Vice-Chair (Executive Committee and Board)

Country of Residence: Australia

Don Baxter is the Executive Director of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisation (AFAO), the national peak body of the HIV community response in Australia.

Don was closely involved in the initial grass-roots HIV community response in Sydney’s gay community from 1983 – and has subsequently been in many national leadership positions and key advisory and decision-making bodies in Australia’s national HIV response -
both elected positions and Ministerially-appointed. He
is currently a member of the Australian Government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on AIDS, Sexual Health and STIs.

Over the last decade he has been increasingly involved in the global response to HIV and the response in the Asia Pacific region. As well as Vice-Chair of the ICASO Board he is currently Co-Chair of the Global Forum on MSM & HIV and also a Board member and Program Special Advisor for the Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organisations (APCASO).

Under Don’s leadership AFAO conducts an international HIV program in the Southeast and East Asia & Pacific Region. Its primary focus is on enhancing strategy, policy and advocacy from the perspective of affected communities and people with HIV with a current primary focus in Indonesia, the Mekong countries, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific and the Mekong countries.

When not on a plane he lives in Sydney with his partner of 23 years, Rob Holland.

Ton Coenen

AIDS Action Europe (AAE)

Executive Committee member

Country of Residence: The Netherlands

Ton Coenen is executive director of the Aids Fonds and STI Aids Netherlands. Aids Fonds is a private fundraising organisation and funds both national and international programs on research, innovation and support for people living with HIV. STI Aids Netherlands is the national expertise centre on STI and AIDS and is mainly focussed on national programming. This includes programs on policy, professionals, young people, mass media, prostitution, ethnic minorities.

He is also a member of the steering committee of Aids Action Europe and board member of ICASO. Aids Action Europe is the Pan European NGO Partnership on HIV and AIDS that started in 2004, and is the European partner of the International Council of Aids Service Organisations (ICASO). Aids Action Europe aims to strengthen the European fight against HIV and AIDS by linking NGO’s, contributing to European policy and mobilising action.

He started as a public health worker in a Municipal Health Service, became vice-director of the National Association for Municipal Health Services and later director of the Netherlands’ Foundation for STI-control. He has a degree in Health Sciences and in Public Management.

North American Council of AIDS Service Organizations (NACASO)

Chair (Executive Committee and Board)

Country of Residence: United States of America

Jacqueline Coleman has 20+ years experience training and assisting faith-based, public health and private entities within the HIV/AIDS arena in maximizing their service to consumers, clients and community. Jacqueline also serves as a motivational speaker, life skills coach and group facilitator. In November 2007, she was appointed to serve as Board Chair for ICASO. In July 2008, Jacqueline was elected as co-chair for the Black Women’s HIV/AIDS Network, a network of black women who are HIV positive and HIV negative committed to providing representation and a powerful voice for black women in the US.

Jacqueline has served as a lead or co-trainer in over 800 training sessions in over 85 percent of the United States, having developed several training curricula and national training projects. She has also trained in Spain, China, Puerto Rico, Canada, the Caribbean and Southern Africa in key functional areas of HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, violence and victimization, youth prevention, case management, community building, community development, leadership and related topics.

Jacqueline's professional interest and expertise focuses on organizational development, capacity building, leadership development, business management, community building and training. She is professionally trained in the fields of counseling psychology, adult education, and business management, and believes firmly in the power of community, dignity and respect for human potential and the infinite possibilities of group process. Jacqueline is the visionary leader of Vision Que! LLC,  a private consulting firm based in Washington, DC. In addition to managing Vision Que, LLC, she is presently pursuing a doctorate of management at the University of Maryland.

Kieran Daly

Executive Director of ICASO

Ex-officio member of the Board of Directors

Country of Residence: Canada

Tony Di Pede

At-large

Treasurer and Executive Committee member

Country of Residence: Canada

Tony Di Pede has been active in the AIDS movement in Canada for more than 20 years. In addition to being a Board member of ICASO, Tony has been on the Boards of The Toronto People With AIDS Foundation (TPWAF), Canadian AIDS Society, Canadian Treatment Action Council, Ontario AIDS Network, Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN) , Fife House, AIDS Action Now!; and a member of the Ontario Advocacy Commission. Tony was one of the early builders of the TPWAF, developing the organization from its small beginning to what it is today. He has been the Treasurer and served as Co-Chair of TPWAF from 1992 to 1997.

Tony was Chair of the former Wellesley Hospital HIV Community Advisory Panel. He did an incredible amount of work in conjunction with the hospital in implementing a state-of-the-art HIV/AIDS program, which provided high quality care.

He is also a founding member of the Wellesley Institute, a private foundation investing over $ 1 million annually in community-based research in urban health and health policy development in Toronto. He was also a board member and Vice Chair of the Drs. Paul and John Rekai Centre (a long term care facility). Tony is currently the Chair of The Wellesley Central Residence Inc. (WCRI). WCRI raised the capital and built a supportive housing complex providing affordable supportive housing to 60 PLWHIV/AIDS and 60 seniors. The complex was completed in fall 2008 and became fully occupied in January 2009. WCRI is Canada’s first LGBTQ focused seniors housing.

Tony is a tremendous advocate for the rights of people living with AIDS, whenever injustice is brought to his attention. In his role he has sat on several government and committee committees.

Carlos Garcia de Leon

Person Living with HIV designate

Executive Committee member

Country of Residence: Mexico

Carlos Garcia de Leon has been actively participating in the AIDS movement since 1990. He was a member of AVE de Mexico - one of the leading organizations in the response to HIV in Mexico over the last years. He was its President until 2005, and was a member of AVE's Board until January 2009. He was the founder and Coordinator of IMPULSO, a Mexican organization that provides technical assistance to the private sector in the AIDS field. Carlos was also a member of the Executive Committee of the North American Treatment Aids Forum, and Co-chair of the tri-national Forum in 2005. He was the Mexican representative for the Latin American and the Caribbean Council of AIDS Service Organizations (LACCASO) from 1997 to 2009. He holds the position of professor of the AIDS Diploma of the National Health Public Institute in Mexico.

Carlos is a very well recognized facilitator and lecturer in HIV and AIDS issues in the Latin American region. He is also an LGBTTT rights activist. He was chosen as the Mexican civil society representative on the Conference Coordinating Committee for AIDS 2008. He is a dental Surgeon and a  Sexologist. He lives with HIV. He is now the Prevention and Social Participation Director of the Mexican Aids Program. He lives in Mexico City with his partner Julio César.

Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch

At-large

Country of Residence: Poland

Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch is the Director of the Global Drug Policy program (GDPp), Open Society Institute (OSI), a new policy effort based in Warsaw. The program extends the concepts of harm reduction to include the negative consequences brought about by the international war on drugs. The Global Drug Policy program advocates a shift away from the use of criminal sanctions to discourage drug use, while aiming to increase access to humane, effective drug treatment and encourage greater scrutiny of current international drug policy.

In addition to her work with GDPp, Kasia serves on the World Health Organization’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS and is a member of the UN Reference Group on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Among Injecting Drug Users. From 1999 to 2007, Ms. Malinowska-Sempruch directed OSI’s International Harm Reduction Development program (IHRD), which pioneered technical and financial support for more than 200 harm reduction projects in 23 countries across Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Laurien Nyabienda

African Council of AIDS Service Organizations (AfriCASO)

Country of Residence: Rwanda

Laurien Nyabienda is a medical doctor with a wealth of experience in the field of HIV and AIDS. Between 1983 and 1990, Laurien served as Senior Medical Officer at the Bulawayo and Mpilo Hospitals in Zimbabwe, where he specialized in safe motherhood, child survival and HIV/AIDS programs. He went on to serve as Senior Medical Officer of the Serowe and Lobatse Hospitals in Botswana, where he contributed to the introduction of the Home Based Care concept.

Since 1999, Laurien has been the Executive Director of the Association Rwandese Pour le Bien Etre Familial (ARBEFs) in Rwanda, a non-profit organisation that focuses primarily on family planning and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH). He has spearheaded the expansion of ARBEFs activities to make it the top ranking Family Planning Association within IPPF for the management of HIV/AIDS programs. Over the past six years he has developed new partnerships, which have led to joint projects with among others IMPACT (FHI), UNFPA, the European Union, The Office of the First Lady of Rwanda, Concern Worldwide, Rutgers Nisso Groep of The Netherlands and John Hopkins University (USA). He is also responsible for having initiated the first advocacy project for HIV/AIDS testing and counselling services in Rwanda’s main prisons.

He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the African Council of Aids Service Organizations (AfriCASO), a member of the Xtending Hope Consultation Committee (Canadian-Rwandan Partnership), a member of Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) for Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), President of Eastern African National Networks of Aids Service Organizations (EANNASO), Chairman of Administration Council for Nyanza District Hospital in Rwanda and Board Member of High Council of the Press (HCP) in Rwanda. He has been serving as a member of the ICASO Board of Directors since 2008.

Richard Parker

At-large

Country of Residence: Brazil

Richard Parker is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociomedical Sciences and Director of the Center for Gender, Sexuality and Health in the Mailman School of Public Health. He is also the President of the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA), the largest non-governmental AIDS-service and advocacy organization in Brazil, and Co-Chair of Sexuality Policy Watch, a global forum composed of researchers and activists from a wide range of countries and regions of the world with secretariat offices in Rio de Janeiro and New York.

As a researcher, his work has focused on the social and cultural construction of gender and sexuality, the social aspects of HIV/AIDS, and the relationship between social inequality, health, and disease. He has conducted long-term research in Brazil since the early 1980s, as well as comparative studies in Asia, Africa, North America, and other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition to his academic work, he has also served on numerous commissions and held a range of positions in program and advocacy work. He has served as an At-Large Member of the Board of Directors for ICASO since 2003.

He also serves on the board of directors of the Commission on Citizenship and Reproduction (CCR) based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the International Society for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS) based in Lima, Peru, and International Planned Parenthood Federation-WesternHemisphere Region (IPPF-WHR), New York City, USA.

Anandi Yuvraj

Person Living with HIV designate

Country of Residence: Thailand

Anandi Yuvraj is the Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator of the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), based in Bangkok. Prior to joining ICW, Anandi worked as Program Manager for HIV and Sexual
Reproductive Health at PATH’s India office, where she managed an advocacy project of the Global Campaign for Microbicides (GCM) in India. She was also employed by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in India as Senior Programme Officer for over five years. During this tenure she became involved with the Global Fund fight for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as the Board representative of the Communities Delegation ( 2004-06). She is also a member of the national advisory board of the Indian chapter of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
Additionally, she served as a steering committee member, advising the development of national strategies for phase III of the National AIDS Control Programme in India. Anandi serves on the Board of the International Partnership on Microbicides (IPM) as well.

Since testing HIV-positive in 1997, she had played a vital role in broadening political and social responses to the epidemic in India. She began her work by establishing a local organization to support fellow people living
with HIV in her own community, which continues to be a strong and effective program. She has been instrumental in mobilizing communities affected by HIV and AIDS, to raise their voices, needs and concerns to build supportive environments. Anandi has played a crucial role in mobilizing the civil society in India to influence the NACP-III through national level consultations. Anandi obtained a Masters in Zoology from Madras University in Tamil NADU, India with a specialization in fishery biology. She completed her thesis from the same university for
Masters in Philosophy. She brings her experience in policy and advocacy, programme and financial management of HIV and AIDS programs at various levels to her position on the ICASO BOard of Directors.

Merle Mendonca

Latin American and the Caribbean Council of AIDS Service Organizations (LACCASO)

Country of Residence: Guyana

Apart from three years working for Oxfam regional in Peru during the 1970s, followed by an internship in the Vicaria de la Solidaridad in Chile during the Pinochet regime, Merle Mendonca has lived in Guyana. She has worked in the field of human rights locally, regionally and internationally since 1978. In this capacity Merle has been responsible for establishing human rights organizations, undertaking research and publications, campaigns, human rights education and training programmes. In particular she has implemented:

International election monitoring teams in Guyana 1978, 1980 and 1995; campaigns to combat the death penalty and extra-judicial executions, violence against women; homophobia and stigma; racial discrimination and reform of sexual offences laws; health and land rights programmes in indigenous communities;

Training programmes for Prison & Police Officers, and prison inmates in Guyana and the Caribbean; gender and HIV/AIDS policy training in Guyana, Haiti and the Horn of Africa; coordinated a National Assessment of laws, policies, human rights and HIV/AIDS in Guyana; coordinated a survey in Guyana of stigma & discrimination among HIV+

Coordinated development of a national human rights curriculum for primary & secondary schools including a cassette of original HRE songs and music (a joint programme of AI-Guyana Section, the Curriculum Department of the Ministry of Education and the Guyana Human Rights Association).

Merle has served on the Board of the national prison; chaired the Ethics and Human Rights Sub-committee of the Guyana National AIDS Committee in developing the Guyana National AIDS Policy; is the Southern Caribbean representative for the Bio-Ethics Society in the English-speaking Caribbean (BSEC); has represented the Guyana Human Rights Association on LACASSO since 2003 and was a member of the Advisory Team to the NGO Director (South) of the Global Fund on M/TB & HIV/AIDS.

Merle was instrumental in helping the following organizations establish themselves in the Caribbean: Amnesty International; Interrights; Caribbean Human Rights Network; Caribbean Conference of Churches Development Programme (CADEC); Centre for Justice and International Law (CEJIL); Penal Reform International; World Rainforest Movement (Forest Peoples Programme).

She has published in the areas of penal and judicial reform, violence against women and children, HIV/AIDS, health & bioethics, and human rights education.