Health Innovation Voices: Deeper Conversations (HIV-DC)

PrEP is one of the most effective tools for preventing HIV, yet stigma, misinformation, and a lack of open conversations about sexual wellness continue to limit its use among women—particularly Black women. Join Ashley Cobb, award-winning sexual health educator and women's health advocate, for an engaging discussion that reimagines PrEP through a sex-positive, pleasure-centered lens.

In this episode, Ashley explores how healthcare providers, educators, and community advocates can foster open, affirming conversations that empower women to make informed decisions about their sexual health. Gain practical strategies for promoting PrEP while centering pleasure, confidence, bodily autonomy, and self-advocacy as essential components of sexual wellness.

FacultyAshley Cobb (she/her) is an award-winning sexual wellness expert, HIV Awareness Activist and author of Pleasure Please! The Black Woman's Guide to Unapologetic Pleasure and Confidence. Known for her inclusive, pleasure-forward approach, Ashley helps Black women release shame, reconnect with their bodies, and prioritize pleasure without guilt.

Her work spans reproductive health, HIV prevention, pleasure education, and sexual empowerment. Ashley's writing has been featured in outlets such as Essence, The New York Times, and Women's Health, where she blends cultural insight with real-world tools that help readers embrace their sexuality on their own terms.

Ashley's work is rooted in the belief that pleasure is not a luxury — it is a birthright. Through her writing, coaching, speaking, and community-centered education, she creates space for Black women to feel informed, affirmed, and empowered in their bodies, relationships, and sexual lives.

ModeratorAmalia Amy Zamot, MS, CHRC is the Senior Capacity Building Assistance Manager at HealthHIV. She has been active in the field of HIV for more than 25 years. Her career began in Ryan White case management before moving into a regional position serving all of southwest Florida as the Regional Minority HIV/AIDS Coordinator. In 2013, she transitioned into the private sector and served as the Director of Prevention and Community Services for a local community-based organization that focused on ensuring equitable access to services for vulnerable populations throughout Southwest Florida.

While April is recognized nationally as Second Chance Month, a time dedicated to supporting the successful reentry of individuals returning to their communities, we offer this episode of Deeper Conversations (HIV-DC) in recognition of Second Chance month and for second chances in general.

This episode honors the resilience of returning citizens and the importance of equitable access to sexual health and HIV prevention and care. Through the voices of those with lived experience, we explore how education, trust, and community-led efforts are creating meaningful second chances and improving health outcomes in DC.

Faculty:Lawerency Boone, Public Health Advisor/Re-Entry Community Health Worker, DC Health Robert Stevenson, Peer Outreach Specialist, DC Health

Moderator: Shannon Morgan, MPH, MS, Program Manager, HealthHIV

This episode explores how lived experience is reshaping HIV prevention, care, and community trust. It offers insights into the value peers bring to HIV services, from bridging cultural gaps to increasing engagement and retention in care. Guests provide firsthand accounts of how peer roles have evolved into long-term career paths and how strong training, guidance, and investment in people with lived experience can build a more inclusive and effective public health workforce.

This podcast is part of the EBTI "Strengthening the Capacity of the HIV Prevention Workforce Series," which includes the "Recruiting and Retaining Peers to Support Prevention and Care" manual and the "Stability in Uncertain Times: Strengthening HIV Prevention Through Peer Workforce Investment" webinar.

Faculty

Valerie Wojciechowicz has been in the HIV field for 27 years and created and managed Medical Peer Programs, Speaking Programs and Trainings. Her desire to help improve the lives of People Living with HIV is evident. She strives to erase stigma and discrimination and help others see the value of eliminating Stigmatizing Language in HIV.

Moderators

Amalia Amy Zamot, MS, CHRC is the Senior Capacity Building Assistance Manager at HealthHIV. She has been active in the field of HIV for more than 25 years. Her career began in Ryan White case management before moving into a regional position serving all of southwest Florida as the Regional Minority HIV/AIDS Coordinator. In 2013, she transitioned into the private sector and served as the Director of Prevention and Community Services for a local community-based organization that focused on ensuring equitable access to services for vulnerable populations throughout Southwest Florida.

Steve Wood is the Senior Education and Advocacy Coordinator at HealthHIV. Steve has worked in the HIV/AIDS field since 1986, in several different disciplines including clinical research, biomedical research, a trainer and curriculum writer for New York State, as well as several years providing direct-service to the community. Steve has extensive experience serving the community as a community-facing worker, as an administrator, and as a trainer.

The "Living Bold: Youth and Beginning an HIV Prevention Journey" podcast explores professional and personal experiences of initiating youth engagement in HIV prevention, including PrEP use, HIV testing, and condom use. Join us for an open and honest conversation working to close the gap between the HIV prevention workforce and today's youth, to lead the next generation in beginning to live boldly against HIV.

Learning ObjectivesUpon completion of this activity, participants will be better able to:

• Describe two strategies for helping youth initiate PrEP use.

• Identify strategies for increasing HIV testing in youth populations.

• Demonstrate effective communication strategies for discussing and initiating condom use with youth to promote safer sexual behavior.

Target AudienceThis activity is intended for physicians, pharmacists, registered nurses, PAs, psychologists, social workers, and other healthcare providers engaged in the care of patients with HIV.

Faculty

Dr. Allison Agwu, MD ScM FAAP FIDSA, a Professor of Pediatric and Adult Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her clinical and research interests focus on children, adolescents, and young adults who are at-risk or living with HIV and their families. Clinically, she provides inpatient and outpatient pediatric infectious diseases' consultations and leads the Pediatric Adolescent HIV/AIDS Program, which provides multidisciplinary care for those living with or affected by HIV. Further, she leads the young adult transition clinic, the Accessing Care Early (ACE) Clinic.

Princess Jauan Durbin, a community advocate specializing in orchestrating community-centered outreach and engagements focused on black, brown, and young LGBTQ+ adults impacted by HIV/AIDS. Princess has assumed pivotal roles as an Accelerate in Action Community Captain, Advisory Board Member, and Positive Action for Youth talent.

Health Innovation Voices: Deeper Conversations (HIV-DC) Podcast

Episode 4: Dismantling Racism: Explicit Biases within HIV Care

Join us for the last episode of Season One of HIV-DC. In this deeper conversation about HIV, we talk about bias and racism in the medical setting. Joining us this episode is Dr. Brandon Wilson, a social science research analyst and project officer for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, as well as a health equity advisor on rotation to CMS Office of Minority Health. In this engaging conversation, Dr. Wilson talks about how explicit bias influences medical care for people living with HIV, and what providers can do to create a safe and trusting relationship with patients to improve care.

Learning Objectives:

-To understand the historical impact of medical neglect of communities of color, particularly same gender loving men

-To discuss current implications of implicit bias in clinical settings

-To educate providers on strategies to combat bias

-To highlight the importance of addressing biases in clinical settings

Health Innovation Voices: Deeper Conversations (HIV-DC) Podcast

Episode 3: Birth and Postpartum with HIV

In the second of this two part conversion, we discuss how HIV relates to birth and parenting. Join us as we talk with Doctors Phil Bolduc and Thanh Thu Ngo from the Family Health Center of Worcester, in Worchester, Massachusetts, where they both practice family medicine and treat women living with HIV. They share with us how they approach birth and postpartum concerns with their patients and offer some best practices to help women stay healthy as they give birth and care for their children.

Continuing Education Credits are available for this podcast. For more information visit: EffiBarryInstitute.org/podcast.

Health Innovation Voices: Deeper Conversations (HIV-DC) Podcast

Episode 2: HIV, Pre-Conception, and Pregnancy

Join us for part one of a two-part conversation on reducing HIV stigma and centering the health and wellness of parents and babies. In this Deeper Conversation, we delve into HIV, pregnancy, and parenting with Doctors Phil Bolduc and Thanh Thu Ngo from the Family Health Center of Worcester in Worcester, Massachusetts, where they both practice family medicine and treat women living with HIV. Drs. Bolduc and Ngo share how they approach HIV and pregnancy with their patients and offer some best practices to help women stay healthy while they are pregnant.

Continuing Education Credits are available for this podcast. For more information visit: EffiBarryInstitute.org/podcast.

Health Innovation Voices: Deeper Conversations (HIV-DC) Podcast

Episode 1: In this deeper conversation, we discuss the barriers and stigma faced by Black women around HIV. Dr. Tamara Henry, Associate Professor and Practicum director at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, joined us to examine the factors that contribute to adolescent and adult Black women being overrepresented among people living with HIV in the United States, and what can be done to change that.

Continuing Education Credits are available for this podcast. For more information visit: EffiBarryInstitute.org/podcast.

Resources:

Check out the CDC HIV testing website for more information on HIV & STD testing centers near you!

Black women in the U.S. are disproportionately affected by HIV, STIs, COVID-19, intimate partner violence, stigma, and poor maternal and child health outcomes. These inequities can accumulate across the lifespan, undermining overall health outcomes. Check out the Effi Barry Training Institute's 3 part series webinar, "Black Women's Health Across the Lifespan"

1. Part 1:Black Adolescent & Young Women: Sex Positivity and Healthy Relationships

2. Part 2: Black Women and Sexual and Reproductive Health

3. Part 3: Promoting Health and Wellness for Black Older Women