Our Mission Statement

AIDSmeds.com is dedicated to providing people living with HIV the necessary information they need to make empowered treatment decisions. The founder and some of the writers of this web site are living with HIV, and we know first hand the challenges of learning how to fight this virus. By offering complete, but not complicated, up-to-date info, AIDSmeds.com seeks to help those that are both new and old to this challenge, and to remain a powerful resource for years to come.

Tim Horn
President and Editor-in-Chief

Tim Horn is president and editor-in-chief of AIDSmeds.com. He has been working with AIDSmeds.com since the website was launched in 1999. He is also a senior editor at Smart + Strong, AIDSmeds.com's parent company, where he oversees the medical, scientific, and treatment information published in POZ magazine and its sister publications.

He has worked as a writer and editor for a number of other AIDS organizations, including Physicians' Research Network (PRN), the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), the AIDS Treatment Data Network, and the PWA Health Group. He has also contributed regularly to a number of other community-focused publications.

Tim is a member of the AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition, a national coalition of AIDS activists, and has served on the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) Community Constituency Group (CCG).

Tim has also done an extensive amount of HIV education and advocacy-related work in Mexico, where he lived for over a year, and was a founding board member of Aid for AIDS.

Peter Staley
Founder and Advisory Editor

AIDSmeds.com was founded by Peter Staley in 1999 (it launched in March, 2000). He was diagnosed with AIDS-related complex in 1985 while working as a bond trader on Wall Street.

In 1987, Peter became a founding member of ACT UP New York. While heading the group's fundraising efforts, he also organized & led many of ACT UP's successful demonstrations and policy initiatives, including the demo that shutdown trading on the NY Stock Exchange in September, 1989 (resulting in a price reduction of AZT a few days later).

In 1990, he was an opening plenary speaker at the VI International Conference on AIDS in San Francisco. In 1992, Peter founded the Treatment Action Group (TAG). TAG's first action and "art project" involved covering Senator Jesse Helms' home with a giant condom. This small group of committed activists quickly became one of the leading voices in AIDS treatment advocacy.

Peter was a board member of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) from 1991 to 2004, and was a member of President Clinton's National Task Force on AIDS Drug Development.

In January, 2004, Peter launched a personal ad campaign in New York City to bring much needed attention to an epidemic of crystal meth use among gay men. Within days, the ads, along with the issues they raised, became a major news story, and the city's health officials, AIDS organizations, and political leaders began to respond. He went on to co-found the Crystal Meth Working Group, which creates meth prevention campaigns.

Peter founded AIDSmeds.com for two reasons: to continue helping people living with HIV, and to finally get himself off disability. In 2006, AIDSmeds.com merged with Smart + Strong, the owners of POZ Magazine and POZ.com.

David Evans
Associate Editor

David Evans is associate editor of AIDSmeds.com. He is also an editor and writer at Smart + Strong, AIDSmeds.com's parent company, where he assists with development of medical, scientific and treatment information published in POZ magazine and its sister publications.

David has worked as a writer and educator at a number of AIDS organizations, including Project Inform, the STOP AIDS Project, the American Academy of HIV Medicine, and Gay Men's Health Crisis. He co-developed the nation's first HIV treatment certification program for peer educators, case managers, nurses and other healthcare providers in San Francisco.

David has been a member of the AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition, a co-chair of the National AIDS Treatment Advocates Forum and an advisory board member of the African American AIDS Policy and Training Institute. He began his work in HIV as a member of ACT UP Golden Gate, in San Francisco, in 1990.

Andy Velez
Forums Moderator

Andy's "mosaic" has included a lengthy career as a book publisher and editor as well as many years in a still active private practice as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, working with individuals, couples and groups.

A committed HIV activist since 1987, he's been involved in many conferences in the U.S. and abroad, focusing particularly on the rights of those living with HIV, access to treatment and infection prevention, as well as long-term survivor issues. His work in an HIV clinical trial unit in New York involved alerting affected communities to their vulnerability to tuberculosis and his HIV-related articles have appeared in many publications including POZ, Out and Body Positive. A consultant to the Latino Commission on AIDS, Andy's taught at the New School University in New York and is often a guest speaker at high schools and colleges throughout the country.

Many of his writings are also on entertainment-related subjects. They continue to appear in many publications as well as CD liner notes for original cast recordings as well as performers such as Doris Day, Fred Astaire, Ella Fitzgerald and Artie Shaw among many others.

A founding member of Queer Nation, recently his interviews were included in the anthology, Cast Out: Queer Lives in the Theater, a collection focusing on out lesbians and gays currently working on the American stage.

He's the proud father of two young adult sons.

Ann Smith
Forums Moderator

Ann Smith is a human being, woman and mother whose motto is "be the change you wish to see."

A student at the University of Life, Planet Earth, since 1962, Ann studied in Indiana, Ohio and New York before continuing her easterly trajectory to the Isle of Man, where she continues her studies including art, nature, humanity, and the interconnectivity of life. Current special interests and challenges include HIV and Hepatitis C. She has no immediate plans for graduation.

Ann became an AIDSmeds Forums Member in 2001 and joined the Moderator Team as a volunteer in 2003. She is grateful for the opportunity to give back to the Positive Community and believes in the right of all people to scientifically sound health information without strings of judgment, prejudice or stigma attached.

She says; "All the world is a classroom and we are both student and teacher."

You can read Ann's HIV blog at blogs.poz.com/ann.

Jan Waddell
Forums Moderator

Jan (a.k.a. "anniebc" in the forums) was born in Scotland in 1948. She is a wife, mother, grandmother of nine and great grandmother of one.

Jan became a nurse at the age of 27, qualified as a Registered Mental Nurse in Psychiatry in 1980, and went on to do her General Nursing and Phlebotomy degree in 1986 in Australia. Jan took early retirement in 2003, moved to New Zealand, and bought a small farm. It was there that she realized there was very little support and education for those living with HIV in rural areas, so she decided to do something about it.

She started an HIV support group for those who live in rural areas and have no direct access to support other than their doctors. Jan now has six people in her support group who meet at her home once a month.

In 2007, Jan joined the board of Positive Women Inc.—a support organization for women living with HIV/AIDS (and their families)—based in Auckland (the North Island), and now represents the women of the South Island. She also talks to med students and nurses in training about "living with HIV, stigma in the work force, and safety in the work force." She also assists in training young med students in phlebotomy (drawing blood).

Jan joined the AIDSmeds forums in 2003 and says "I've never looked back – being a part of these forums gave me the encouragement I needed to do all that I do today."

How to Contact Us

For questions or comments about our site or its content, or to report a "bug" or broken link, click on the following email link, or paste the address into your email program.

Please do not send treatment-related questions to this email address. Instead, you should post your question on one of our Community Forums so that we & others can respond and/or learn from your experience. Messages can be anonymous if you prefer by leaving the email field blank.

editors@aidsmeds.com

To send us any "snail mail", please use the following address:

500 Fifth Ave., Suite 320
New York, NY 10110

Last Revised: 3/3/08