Welcoming Harold J. Phillips to Senior Role in Ending the HIV Epidemic Efforts

Many of you already know Harold J. Phillips (PDF, 106 KB), due to his over 20 years of work improving health outcomes for people with HIV. I am excited to welcome him to the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP), as the Senior HIV Advisor and Chief Operating Officer of Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America.

In this position, Harold oversees coordinating the initiative’s activities throughout all U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) operating divisions, ensuring we are collaborating and communicating to help jurisdictions make the best use of the science, data, and tools we now have available to end the HIV epidemic. He will also work to ensure there is both community awareness and engagement in our efforts to achieve the ambitious goals of the Ending the HIV Epidemic plan to reduce HIV transmissions by 75 percent within five years, and by 90 percent within 10 years.

Harold has worked tirelessly in his career improving the health of those with HIV and other co-existing conditions by planning and implementing policies and programs in communities across the United States and internationally. He is an expert in forging partnerships at the federal, state, and community levels, strengthening health care systems, leading program planning, monitoring and evaluation efforts and addressing service gaps and barriers by conducting needs assessments.

He is a recognized leader by the community, as acknowledged by Fran Lawless, Director of the Office of Health Policy at the New Orleans Health Department: “The appointment of Harold Phillips to the senior post of the Ending the Epidemic initiative was brilliant. We are so excited to be working with him once again, and I can think of no better person to lead this effort. Harold's insightful leadership and compassionate wisdom in guiding programs to improve the health outcomes of persons living with HIV is awe-inspiring. I have called on Harold so many times over the past 15 years for his common sense guidance in areas where legislation and rhetoric are cloudy. His advice has always been to ‘consider the objective — getting people into care, and making them whole again.’ That advice has been a sign post to the work we have done in New Orleans”.

Prior to joining us at OIDP, Harold served as Director of the Office of HIV/AIDS Training and Capacity Development (OTCD) at the Health Resources and Services Administration’s HIV/AIDS Bureau (HRSA/HAB). OTCD administers the Ryan White Program’s AIDS Education and Training Centers (AETC), Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) and support for the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

He also held past positions within HRSA/HAB as the Deputy Director of the Ryan White Part B and AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP), working with Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program recipients, planning councils, providers and patients and served on the CDC/HRSA AIDS Advisory Committee (CHAC) from 2003 – 2010.

Harold has innovated effective ways to help individuals disproportionately affected by HIV become virally suppressed by improving access to testing, connecting them to medical care, and starting HIV treatment. He brings depth of experience, commitment to addressing health disparities, as well as kindheartedness and enthusiasm to this effort and we are excited to have him aboard.