Hepatitis/HIV Project Coordinator
Biography
Lei Chou has been an HIV/AIDS activist since 1988. As a member of the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP) in New York, Lei helped organize demonstrations to demand housing for homeless people living with AIDS; the first National People of Color AIDS Activist Conference; and co-founded the Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus. In 1992, Lei served as the Founding Board Co-chair of the Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS, the first AIDS organization to serve the API community in New York City.
While working for the AIDS Treatment Data Network from 2001 to 2005, Lei collaborated with the Kaiser Family Foundation and the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors on the National AIDS Drug Assistance Program Monitoring Project. This partnership spawned Lei’s interest in domestic HIV treatment access, leading to his work organizing several grassroots coalitions addressing this issue, including the Save ADAP committee, the HIV Medicaid/Medicare Workgroup, and the Fair Pricing Coalition. Lei also served as a board member of the AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition.
In 2005, Lei began working as Director of Mobilization for the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP). In this role, Lei helped organize national mobilization efforts including the Campaign to End AIDS and the Prevention Justice Mobilization. He built and maintained a national database of AIDS activists with over 10,000 members. Lei also collaborated with researchers, policy advocates, and community members to organize a series of trainings on HIV prevention research advocacy around the country.
Lei joined the Treatment Action Group’s Hepatitis/HIV Project in 2008. He works with both domestic and international activists, researchers, pharmaceutical industry representatives, and regulators on new drug development and treatment access for viral hepatitis, with a particular focus on viral hepatitis and HIV coinfection.