Conference Updates

Bridgette Picou, LVN, ACLPN, stakeholder liaison for The Well Project, spoke with HIV.gov during the 2024 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) about her key takeaways from the conference.

I'm always happy to get the opportunity to attend a meeting or conference, so when I was approached with the opportunity to attend a conference virtually, I was happy to accept, especially one like the International Workshop on HIV and Women.

HIV cure research is a complex topic on many levels. The Well Project stakeholder liaison Bridgette Picou sums up her experience attending a meeting of passionate HIV cure advocates.

The Well Project community members were all over the US's largest HIV community meeting – presenting sessions, building community, doing some fierce organizing, and more.

Rep. Maxine Waters' speech at the U.S. Conference on HIV/AIDS was powerful – and included some stigmatizing (and preventable) language concerns. The Well Project's stakeholder liaison, Bridgette Picou, shared her take on TheBody.com.

At the US Conference on HIV/AIDS, a group of lifetime survivors of HIV took the stage to demand attention for their needs. Grissel Granados, The Well Project's deputy director, wrote about the moment's importance for TheBody.com.

"Upon hearing the title, I expected to hear about some form of injection as a cure, similar to a vaccine. But I was quite mistaken."

"No one could ever understand the sentiment she was expressing through her words like someone else living with the virus in their blood. It makes us connected."

Managing HIV as children and into adulthood is an experience and a bond that is difficult to describe.

This was my first time attending the USCHA conference in DC. This year's theme was "A Love Letter to Black Women".