Purpose
The National Alliance for HIV Education and Workforce Development (NAHEWD) is a membership organization of 8 regional and 2 national AIDS Education and Training Centers (AETCs) that support the AETC Program mission. Established in 2010, NAHEWD supports the AETCs, a component of the HRSA-funded Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, which have an explicit directive to build and maintain a well-educated and culturally sensitive health professions workforce that can provide prevention, diagnosis, care and treatment, and medical management for people at risk for and living with HIV.
History
The National HIV/AIDS Strategy calls for a focus on decreasing new infections, improving access to care and health outcomes, reducing disparities and achieving a more coordinated response. Workforce development is key to these goals. Ending the HIV epidemic in the United States and its territories will only be accomplished when significant health care system and HIV workforce challenges are addressed.
Even if all people living with HIV were diagnosed and linked to care, challenges remain with the capacity of the current system of care. Many of the original HIV workforce are now retiring. The successes made in treatment have meant a community living longer with HIV but also experiencing comorbidities experienced with age and presenting as more complex patients. The rapid translation of science into evidence-based practice standards is key to quality care.
Filling the gap of well-trained HIV health workforce is a crucial step toward the elimination of HIV in the U.S.
Organization Structure
Executive Committee
Vanessa Carson-Sasso, MSW
President
AETC Affiliation: New England AETC
Prescott Chow, MUP
Vice President
AETC Affiliation: Pacific AETC
Tracy Tessmann Jungwirth, MA
Treasurer
AETC Affiliation: South Central AETC
Amanda Wilkins, MPA
Secretary
AETC Affiliation: Midwest AETC
Governmental Affairs Committee Chair
Laurie Sylla, MHSA
AETC Affiliation: Mountain West AETC
Program Committee Chair
Daria Boccher-Lattimore, DrPH
AETC Affiliation: Northeast/Caribbean AETC
By-laws Committee/Nominating Committee Chair
Jennifer Burdge, MEd
AETC Affiliation: Southeast AETC