Peter Barbosa
Dr. Peter Barbosa was raised in Añasco, Puerto Rico. He is an accomplished educator, scientist, filmmaker, and social activist. Dr. Barbosa earned his B.S. in biochemistry from Texas A&M University and holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. His first postdoctoral fellowship was completed in HIV research at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. Following his relocation to San Francisco, he worked as a scientist and immunology professor, specializing in HIV and AIDS. While working as a scientist and immunology professor at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, the University of California Medical School, and the California College of Podiatric Medicine, his research has been published widely. He currently serves as a Professor of Biochemistry at the New York College of Podiatric Medicine located in Harlem, New York City.
Dr. Barbosa studied cinematography at City College of San Francisco and San Francisco State University. He served as the Executive Director of EyeBite Productions; he produced and directed two multiple award-winning documentaries, De Colores and I Exist, exploring homophobia in the Latino and Middle Eastern cultures, respectively. Dr. Barbosa was also involved as facilitator for the Agapé Reconciliation Conversation Program, in which Christian communities of faith and/or communities of color engage in conversations aiming to end discrimination against LGBT folk. He is passionate about justice issues and he is an active member of the United Church of Christ, where he has served in a wide variety of committees primarily focusing on racial, economic and LGBT justice causes. Family, friends, community and spirituality are of his core values.
As a scientist, his primary interests involve: 1) podiatric complications of HIV infection, and, 2) ways to improve empathy among healthcare students. He is passionate about involving students in research endeavors and his research teams are well published. Teaching in a manner that intellectually stimulates his students is his passion as a professor. He is personable, approachable and always available for his student’s needs.
Daniel Castellanos
Daniel Castellanos initiated his career in public health as a community liaison for the Hispanic AIDS Forum in 1995. A year later, he founded and chaired the Colombian Lesbian and Gay Association (COLEGA), a social organization that provided a voice to Colombian immigrants living in NYC as well as support to other LGBT organizations in his native country Colombia. As founder, board president, and former director of Queens Pride House (QPH), an LGBT community center in Queens County established in 1997, Daniel strongly advocated for developing and implementing community health through committed partnering with community leaders, public health officials, and academia.
In ten years of professional work in HIV prevention, Daniel participated in a broad range of programmatic activities and research projects. Based on positive perspectives on gay sexual health and pleasure, he developed Proyecto P.A.P.I., Gay Men Health Crisis’ first HIV prevention program fully devoted to address the needs of Latino gay and bisexual men. As Assistant Director of the Research and Evaluation Unit of the Institute for Gay Men’s Health/GMHC, he oversaw qualitative and quantitative research on HIV/STI prevention and health care access among sexual minorities.
Daniel has a Master’s in Public Health, and he is currently a doctoral candidate at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. He has conducted research and published work on male sex work in the Dominican Republic, LGBT social movements and LGBT health. His doctoral research focuses on homelessness among young Latino gay men in NYC.
George Fesser
George Fesser learned early on about dedicating himself to bettering the lives of others. At 19 years old and just out of high school in Miami, George joined the Missionary group “Amor en Accion” and went on missions to Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala, helping the poorest of the poor. This is also the time when he came to grips with being gay and learned that he was HIV-positive. Being honest and authentic with his fellow missionaries and family members about his status cost him his membership in this Catholic organization, and caused a break between George and his father which continues until today. This was his first stark experience with homophobia and bias against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) communities and those living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
However, George did not give up. He pursued volunteer work at Miami Children’s Hospital and soon after was hired and worked for a number of years at the adolescent psychiatric ward helping social workers and nurses deal with suicidal teens, 40% of whom were LGBT. Simultaneously, George obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work at Barry University.
In 1998, George moved to New York City to pursue a Master’s Degree in Social Work. However, a Kaposi Sarcoma diagnoses delayed his plans to begin graduate school; instead he concentrated on beating his cancer and moving forward in his career as a prevention counselor at Streetworks Project, where he worked with homeless teenagers. After one year of chemotherapy, George beat cancer, and began to work for Montefiore Medical Center as a research associate for the New York Academy of Medicine.
In 2002 he began to work at Aid for AIDS International. After this, George was a Prevention Counselor at the Western Queens site of the Hispanic AIDS Forum, where he worked for almost four years. He then moved on to The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, and while working full time as the Coordinator of Substance Abuse Prevention & Immigration Services, completed his Master’s Degree in Social Work at Columbia University, School of Social Work. During his time at the Center George has been responsible for coordinating and providing direct support services to LGBT immigrants from over 50 countries. George also created the Center’s LGBT Immigrant Social Action Group which helps LGBT immigrants learn more about the laws that affect them and how they can use their stories to promote change in a system that does not recognize the unique needs of the LGBT immigrant population.
In his new role as Director of Center Families, George is responsible for organizing education and support services for prospective parents and families in the LGBTQ community, as well as overseeing the groundbreaking LGBTQ Foster Care Project. George is now engaged to JC his partner of 8 years, and they enjoy a great life together with their Terrier Oxy.
Carlos N. Molina
Carlos N. Molina was born and raised in Mayaguez , PR. He graduated with honors from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus, affectionally known as El Colegio. He worked as a Software Engineer in Los Angeles and South Korea., before studying fashion design in Paris, France. He moved to New York City in 1993 in the midst on the AIDS epidemic, and immediately started working with the Latino community, which he has served through a multitude of roles. He was the managing editor and later editor of SIDAahora, the first Spanish-language AIDS magazine in the USA, published by PWACNY and Body Positive consecutively. He served as the Art Director of Body Positive, a Special Projects and Entre Hombres Program Coordinator for the Hispanic AIDS Forum, was a Senior Trainer for National LLEGO (the Latino LGBT organization based in DC) and currently he serves as the Director of Publications and Communications for Amida Care, a SNP for PWAs. Carlos N. is also an artist and published author in the USA and Germany. His artwork is currently part of the Museo del Barrio Biennal.