Demetre Daskalakis Opens Up About New CDC Job and Priorities in the COVID-19 Era

The first time I ever saw Demetre Daskalakis, M.D., M.P.H., was in April 2017, at an afternoon dance party at the AIDS Memorial in downtown New York to end HIV stigma and celebrate the science of U=U (undetectable equals untransmittable.

As I was boogie-oogie-oogie-ing, my friend asked me if I recognized the DJ. I looked over, and in the music booth was a sexy, tattooed, bald, goateed guy in a cut-up T-shirt and baseball cap. It was Dr. D. At the time, he was the deputy commissioner in the Division of Disease Control for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, our HIV champion, and, apparently, a rockin’ music mixologist.

Daskalakis is one of the most brilliant and visionary leaders in the HIV field. Under his dynamic leadership, New York City became the first major city to sign on to the empowering message that is U=U.

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