Phill Wilson

Phill Wilson is an internationally renowned HIV/AIDS advocate and activist. He is the founder and former President and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute, a think tank whose mission is to stop the AIDS pandemic in African American communities. He announced his retirement from the Institute in February 2018 and stepped down at the end of that year. 

Prior to founding the Institute in 1999, Mr. Wilson served as the AIDS Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles from 1990 to 1993, and the Director of Policy and Planning at AIDS Project Los Angeles from 1993 to 1996. He was co-chair of the Los Angeles County HIV Health Commission from 1990 to 1995, and was an appointee to the Health Resources & Services Administration AIDS Advisory Committee from 1995 to 1998.

Mr. Wilson was the co-founder of the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum and the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention. He has been involved in the founding of a number of other AIDS service organizations and community-based organizations, including the Chris Brownlie Hospice, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the National Minority AIDS Council, the Los Angeles County Gay Men of Color Consortium, and the CAEAR Coalition.

Mr. Wilson has worked extensively on HIV/AIDS policy, research, prevention, and treatment issues in Western and Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. He was the coordinator of the International Community Treatment and Science Workshop at the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th International AIDS Conferences. He has published articles in publications such as the Los Angeles TimesNew York TimesLA WeeklyEssenceEbonyVibeJetPOZ, and HIV+.

Mr. Wilson holds a B.A. in Fine Arts from Illinois Wesleyan University. In 2016, he received the Spirit of Justice Award from GLAD (GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders). He was named one of the “2005 Black History Makers in the Making” by Black Entertainment Television. In 2001, he was a recipient of the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World award, and in the same year he was honored with amfAR’s Award of Courage.

Bio Via amfAR

'Nobody Can Save Us, But Us:' Saying The Quiet Part Out Loud 41 Years Into The HIV Crisis

I tested positive for HIV in the spring of 1987. I had less than 200 T-Cells, which meant I met the threshold for an AIDS diagnosis. The counselor gave me six months or so to live. There were no treatments for AIDS yet. He suggested I go home and put my affairs in order. I was 30 years old. I didn't have any "affairs" to put in order. In actuality, I probably had been living with HIV for seven years by then. My husband, Chris Brownlie, who I met in 1980, already had AIDS and was experiencing opportunistic infections. Chris died in November 1989. Last month, after celebrating 66 years and four months of life (the required age to receive full social security benefits), I received my first social security check.

I've started writing my memoir. I've had thirty-six years and four months since that AIDS diagnosis to put my "affairs" in order. I've been thinking a lot about what it means to come of age, live through, and grow old in the age of HIV/AIDS. And more importantly, what we've learned, if anything, over the last 41 years that might be of importance to young Black gay men coming of age today in the middle of three pandemics—HIV/AIDS, Covid-19, and now, Monkeypox. André Gide said, "Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” Monkeypox has become the new Black Plague. Black and Brown gay, men who have sex with men, and/or same gender loving men represent over 50% of the current cases of monkeypox in the United States.

'Nobody Can Save Us, But Us:' Saying The Quiet Part Out Loud 41 Years Into The HIV Crisis