HIV AND TESTING COORDINATOR
he / him / él
[email protected]

BIO
Carlos recently moved to Southern Illinois from Chicago after retiring from over 25 years of work as an advocate, case manager, writer, editor and health educator in the HIV field of Public Health. He has a Bachelors from Columbia College in Marketing/PR with a minor in Sound Engineering. Carlos was resident DJ at The Phoenix Disco and other clubs from 1979 through 1995.

His interest in working in the HIV field began when he tested positive while working for The AMA (American Medical Association) in 1984 because he heard from physicians wanting to switch practices from invasive to non-invasive because even they were afraid to work with HIV-positive people. After a few years on disability, he was hired by BEHIV in Evanston IL as Administrative Assistant where he opened BEHIV’s first office in Chicago in Roger’s Park. Later, Carlos began working with Test Positive Aware Network (TPAN) as Volunteer Coordinator and then as the Editor of The Ryan White HIV Services Directory For The Chicago Area and translated its first Spanish version. He also authored a monthly column called My Kind Of Life published by Positively Aware.

While working for TPAN  with volunteers and clients Carlos’ interest in becoming a Case Manager became another goal and he began training at AIDS Foundation. He also worked as Research Assistant in a CDC study at Mt Sinai Hospital on Orasure Quick Technologies to see how their quick HIV test would work in a hospital setting. Carlos then worked for Heartland in Chicago as HIV Case Manager/Tester and ran a bi-montlhy educational meeting for Heartland clients focused on quality of care and life and self-advocacy. Carlos is really excited to get back to work in the community down in Southern Illinois.