Congratulations to our very own Director of Research Dr. Annesa Flentje and her team on their newly released manuscript published in “Health Psychology.” Their article “Differential Gene Expression in Response to AWARENESS: A Randomized Controlled Trial of an Intersectional Minority Stress Intervention,” looks at changes in gene expression in response to a cognitive behavioral intervention aimed at reducing the impacts of minority stress.
“This article stands as a reminder that when we help our clients cope with stress, we are likely changing the ways their bodies internalize that stress—down to the level of gene expression,” said Dr. Flentje. “Just an important underscoring of the work that AHP does every single day.”
The article was selected as the editor’s choice article for the issue, which means it is free to access. In addition to Dr. Flentje, AHP’s founder Dr. Jim Dilley, served as a contributor, and Dr. Katie Katuzny, AHP supervising psychologist, served as a therapist for many of the participants included in the study (related article co-authored by Dr. Katuzny can be found here).
Dear AHP Community,
A new year is a great time for us to take a moment and a deep breath (or several of both!) as we reflect on the previous year and look forward to the one in front of us. Rather than resolutions, I am personally an advocate of setting intentions that relate to your chosen values. For example, what does it mean for us to live life mindfully, to show up authentically, and to move forward with intention and purpose?
And how do we as a community navigate mindfully while holding the stress and uncertainty that 2025 may bring? Ensuring that our HIV-affected and LGBTQ+ communities and clients continue to receive compassionate care will always be paramount to our values as an organization. We hold this commitment fiercely.
The initiation of a comprehensive strategic plan is one way that AHP is being intentional with our commitment. AHP recognizes the need for ongoing growth and transformation in the setting of an ever-changing mental wellness and healthcare landscape. Our clients’ needs, along with the structures and policies that influence their lives, have changed. Local and global conflicts and oppressions have influenced our perspectives and our lived experiences. Innovations to care delivery are needed, and individual and systemic impacts on mental health warrant thorough re-examination. At AHP, we carry out this values-driven work while affirming multicultural and...
Dear Friend,
As we approach the end of another year, we are celebrating a significant milestone: 40 years of Defying Odds at the UCSF Alliance Health Project. This moment is not just a celebration of our past achievements, but a call to action to ensure our vital work continues.
Founded in response to the social crises of homophobia, AIDS phobia, racism and misogyny; remember “Haitians, Whores, and Homosexuals?” The UCSF Alliance Health Project emerged as a signal of hope for those living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS. Our mission has always been clear: to address the psychosocial and mental health needs of those affected by HIV/AIDS while combating the stigma that often isolates them from receiving compassionate client-centered care.
Over the past four decades, we have expanded our services to meet the evolving needs of our community. What started as an HIV/AIDS-focused project has grown into a comprehensive program that provides not only mental health care and HIV treatment but also sexual health services, training and education for healthcare providers, and vital research aimed at improving health outcomes.
Our commitment to holistic approach to care has been transformative. We...
Dear Friends,
It might sound like it, but I am not over dramatizing when I say, “you save lives.” I know this because you saved mine. Imagine it’s 1988 and you’re at the Alliance Health Project sitting across from an AHP HIV test counselor. Everyone you know who has been diagnosed with AIDS is dead or dying. You KNOW you don’t have HIV. You’re just there to support a friend.
Those resources, that support, that direction saved my life.
DK Haas
Artist, Survivor, Recent Retiree
And then the counselor looks at you, and delivers your death sentence:
“Your HIV test results are positive.” Remember it’s 1988.
That death sentence saved my life.
I have no idea what that counselor said, only that I felt such care, compassion, and presence that I will never forget her. I left AHP armed with the resources, support and direction I needed to tackle the rest of what was certain to be, my very short life.
Those resources, that support, that direction saved my life.
I doubled down on my recovery and became engaged in my physical and mental health. I even attended an HIV support group for gay men in recovery— they were so welcoming. I utilized those resources I was given like the lifeline they were.
Later, a couple of AHP trainers came to my job to teach the clients and staff about HIV....
Dear Friends,
The mission of the UCSF Alliance Health Project is just as important now as it was 40 years ago – and it rings a little differently today as we look to the future.
Since 1984, in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, AHP has been a bedrock of advocacy and care for the HIV and LGBTQ+ communities. In times of stress and vulnerability, AHP demonstrated our resilience. In moments of struggle, AHP leaned in and came out stronger than ever.
This year has brought about several milestones and developments for AHP, including the celebration of our 40th anniversary, several changes to AHP leadership, and a wonderfully engaging 28th annual Art for AIDS event. The year has also brought about many challenges – escalating costs of doing business, continued restructuring of operations in the post-pandemic hybrid workforce frontier, and repeated fiscal health risks posed at HIV and LGBTQ+ nonprofits in San Francisco; further, changes in local and nationally elected government officials and their subsequent policy reforms can add to feelings of uncertainty.
And, with and for our community, we persist – and persevere. We must and we will. As we close out our historic 40th anniversary celebration and the theme of “Defying
Odds Since 1984,” we will rely on the same characteristics of resilience, pride, and...
Racism, homophobia, and transphobia make the work at AHP as vital now, as it was forty years ago. In 1984, in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, a group of concerned mental health practitioners founded the AIDS Health Project; their mission was to help AIDS patients and their loved ones who were suffering from the terror, uncertainty, loneliness, and grief associated with this new, devastating disease. The homophobia and AIDS phobia targeting the community in those days increased the despondency for those fighting for their lives and propelled our founders to do everything they could to care for and strengthen those affected.
Throughout the years, including a name and mission change, AHP has grown and expanded to agilely meet the needs of LGBTQ+ community members living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS. As the epidemic has changed, the organization has changed, by building programs and developing services to respond to the changing needs of the community. AHP has been a bedrock of advocacy for clients, the community, and their funders. The Alliance Health Project has a rich and storied history, and they are looking toward their future with purpose and determination. According to Jen Shockey (they/them) Provider Education and Training Manager, “a lot has changed in forty years but LGBTQ+ people face a backlash of conservatism with a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills (over 500 were introduced in the US in 2023. These attacks lead to social stigma, societal discrimination, violence, and psychological distress among our...
The Alliance Health Project staff and leadership team are thrilled to introduce Lucy Ogbu-Nwobodo, MD, our newest Medical Director. Dr. Ogbu-Nwbodo is a highly sought-after psychiatrist and activist who embodies wisdom, authenticity, and unwavering advocacy. She possesses a keen knowledge of diversity, equity, and inclusion while supporting a large community psychiatry clinic, a team of fellows, residents, and post-baccalaureate trainees.
Dr. Ogbu-Nwobodo doesn’t try to fix, manage, or control complicated issues, but gently acknowledges the pain of being immersed in them. She listens attentively, thanks her speakers consistently, and responds brightly with critical theory, a keen sensitivity toward trauma, and optimism for healing.
In the few months that Dr. Ogbu-Nwobodo has served as AHP’s Medical Director, she has exhibited an unwavering commitment to justice and a deep compassion toward the staff and clients. Community Advisory Board member and colleague of Dr. Ogbu-Nwobodo’s, Michelle Porche, EdD, had this to say about her: “Dr. Ogbu-Nwobodo is forging a path for the next generation of psychiatrists, both in her mentoring of post-baccalaureates towards careers in medicine and in her training of psychiatry residents. She is a talented clinician for patients from marginalized communities and a champion for those who have been historically excluded from healthcare professions. Alliance Health Project and its clients are the well-served...