Jasmine Davis says her life experiences as a Black trans woman and those of her community inspired her to work in HIV, healthcare and transgender advocacy in New Orleans.

In her work with the community health organization CrescentCare and the Transgender Law Center’s Positively Trans program, Jasmine has played an integral role in community-driven research and studies. Her work has focused on risk factors that affect the sexual health of transgender women, HIV prevalence, and access to HIV prevention and care in her community.

Jasmine was one of about 140 HIV community advocates to receive a Gilead scholarship to attend the 23rd International AIDS Conference – AIDS 2020: Virtual. Gilead’s scholarship program was designed to provide access to the conference to people who otherwise might not have been able to attend.

In the video below, Jasmine explains what attending AIDS 2020 means to her and how it will help advance her work on HIV outreach.

“This scholarship means so much to me because it gives me the opportunity to learn more, to bring more to my community and to stay abreast of the current events that are going on in the field of HIV,” Jasmine said prior to the conference. “Everything that I experience through this conference I'll bring back to my community to help with the fight against HIV.”

The meeting is the world’s largest conference on HIV and AIDS, and this year an estimated 20,0000 people from more than 170 countries participated.  The conference, held every two years, serves as an opportunity for researchers and advocates to share the latest science in the field and come together to build and strengthen collaborations. 

“I had the opportunity to learn about the many wonderful developments in medicine and the latest HIV data. I believe data research is one of the essential methods we use to contribute to the development of our communities,” Jasmine said of the conference. “I was also happy to see many transgender and gender-nonconforming leaders from all over the world who related to my struggles here in the U.S.”