HIV and Aging: A Growing Population Faces Unique Challenges

published on September 13, 2018 in The Body

Jeff Taylor, incoming Co-chair of the Community Advisory Board of the amfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research, has been living with HIV for 35 years. A longtime HIV research advocate and cancer survivor, he has served on many community advisory boards, including currently the National Cancer Institute's AIDS Malignancy Consortium and the Collaboratory of AIDS Researchers for Eradication (CARE). He produces a monthly education series on HIV treatment issues for HIV patients and providers, serves on the regional Ryan White Planning Council, and is director of the HIV+Aging Research Project-Palm Springs to study aging in HIV.

In observance of National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day on September 18, amfAR spoke with Mr. Taylor about the constellation of issues that affect older Americans living with HIV.

amfAR: How did you become involved in community advocacy?

Jeff Taylor: I did it out of self interest. When I was infected in 1982 there was no reliable test and the diagnosis was considered a death sentence. So in 1988, when there was talk of AZT being a treatment, I got tested and was told I had two years to live and to start making arrangements. By that time my T-cell count was below 200.

The first thing I did was to buy a lifetime membership to a gym because I had watched people waste away as they died, looking like concentration camp victims. So I thought, "Whatever I can do to keep that from happening, I will."

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