Episode 57 – A Personal Journey with HIV and Advocacy for HIV Research with Dawn Averitt (September 23, 2025)

In episode 57 of Going anti-Viral, Dawn Averitt joins host Dr Michael Saag to discuss HIV advocacy and the importance of scientific research. Ms Averitt is a social justice advocate and founder of organizations focused on women with HIV and AIDS, such as the Well Project and the Women’s Information Service and Exchange. Ms Averitt has served on several scientific and advisory committees, including 2 terms on the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, and has been responsible for key achievements in guiding FDA labeling decisions and shaping research and policy priorities at the NIH. Ms Averitt discusses being diagnosed with HIV at age 19 in 1988 and her experience with early treatment. She shares how this experience led her to the AIDS Survival Project and the Atlanta Buyers Project where she was an advocate for access to HIV care and treatment. Dr Saag and Ms Averitt discuss the current focus of HIV activism at a time when scientific research is threatened and the importance of today’s HIV advocates to be a voice for research to the public at large.