Queen Mother Chela has been in service to the LGBTQ community with a journey that expands over two decades. Although Chela has a formal education as a journalist, after working many years with the LGBTQ+ community, with expertise in trans issues, she realized that access to culturally competent support and services for black trans people were limited.

She started a weekly support group to have conversations with the community and this weekly support group materialized into the first formal trans organization in Los Angeles, started by a black trans woman “Unique Woman’s Coalition was born.

Chela is the founder of “TransGiving Dinner,” a dinner with all the traditional trimmings of a holiday meal, but mostly to have a sense of community and togetherness. TransGiving Dinner became a family reunion event and the community looks forward to each year, now being celebrated in more than 6 states across the country.

She is also a founding member of Trans-Unity Pride, now known as Trans Pride LA, the first trans pride in the US. In August 2019 UWC opened headquarters in Watts becoming the first black trans lead organization to have a brick & Mortar operation offering healing groups, STI screening, HIV testing and linkage to care, legal documents clinic and an Ambassador leadership program that aims to build and mentor new leaders.

Chela currently serves as the National Vice President for FLUX, a national division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) dedicated to creating safe spaces for Trans and Gender Non-Conforming individuals through advocacy, events, and innovative marketing. Chela’s mission is to create and embed a Black trans legacy to help build generational wealth.

Dr. Gary Tigges was born and raised in Bancroft, Iowa. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Iowa in 1988 and a Medical Degree from the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 1992. Dr. Tigges completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Texas-Houston in 1995. He started his private practice at Presbyterian Hospital of Plano in 1995 and founded Plano Internal Medicine in 1996.

Dr. Tigges is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and has been very active in the medical leadership at Presbyterian Hospital of Plano. He has served on the Medical Board since 1999 and was elected by his peers as President of the Medical Staff in 2006. He has also served as Chairman of the Department of Medicine, the Bioethics Committee, the Peer Review Committee and previously chaired the Credentials Committee from 2008 to mid-2018.

Dr. Tigges has served on councils for the Texas Medical Association and is a member of the Dallas County Medical Society. His community involvement includes previous board memberships of the Wellness Center of Plano and DIFFA Dallas. He currently serves as a board member for the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums and served on the benefit committee for amfAR (American Foundation for AIDS Research). He is a member of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Dallas. He has traveled on medical relief missions to such places as Haiti, Ecuador, and Zimbabwe.

Dr. Tigges’ hobbies include fitness, photography and world travel.

John Peller has served as AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s President & CEO, where he oversees the over 115-person staff and nearly $30 million budget.
John started at AFC in 2005 as AFC’s state lobbyist, served as Vice President of Policy, and was named CEO in 2014. Since then, he has worked with the Board of Directors to achieve 100% board giving, increased individual giving by 50%, and successfully oversees the execution of AFC’s signature annual events, AIDS Run & Walk Chicago and World of Chocolate.

AFC’s case management program has renewed its focus on helping clients achieve maximum health, and over 80% are virally suppressed. AFC’s housing programs provide stable homes to nearly 850 highly vulnerable people every year.

Under John’s watch, the Policy & Advocacy team successfully thwarted multiple attempts by the Republican Congress to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Most recently, John has co-led with partners at the Chicago and Illinois health departments efforts to launch the Getting to Zero Illinois plan, which will end the HIV epidemic in the state by 2030.

He has a Bachelor’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. John lives in Chicago with his partner David Jablonowski and rescue dog Penny.

Lynda Tyer-Viola, RNC PhD FAAN is the Director of inpatient nursing and operations for the Pavilion for Women at Texas Children’s Hospital and an Assistant Clinical Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. She holds a BSN from Boston University, an MSN from the University of Miami in Coral Gables Florida and a PhD in Nursing Research from Boston College. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Prior to her current appointments, Lynda was an Associate Professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston Massachusetts and a Faculty Nurse Scientist in the Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research at Massachusetts General Hospital. She practiced as a Clinical Nurse Specialist at MGH for ten years and has held several management and director positions in perinatal nursing. She is an active researcher with the International HIV Nursing Research Collaborative. Her area of clinical expertise is in high risk pregnancy with a program of research in care of pregnant women with HIV. Dr. Tyer-Viola has practiced globally in many settings including Russia, Malawi, Haiti, Bangladesh, and Zambia. Her focus on care of women and children expands the view of caring for persons living with HIV to that of the family and its effects on the community.

Dr. Gottlieb is the physician who first described the new disease that would later become known as AIDS. He has been involved with AIDS for the life of the epidemic, and remains prominent in HIV treatment and research. A founder of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, Dr. Gottlieb was physician to actor Rock Hudson and activist Elizabeth Glaser. He has a private practice of medicine in Los Angeles, and is Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Dr. Gottlieb is the recipient of the Lifetime Science Award from the Center for the Study of Immunology and Aging (1995), the Caregiver of the Year Award from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (1993), the Spirit of Hope Award from Being Alive (1994), and the Dr. Howard Brown Award from Christopher Street West (1988). He is a member of the Rutgers University Hall of Distinguished Alumni and in 2007 was awarded the University of Rochester’s highest honor, the Charles Force Hutchison and Marjorie Smith Hutchison Medal.

Michael Kaplan joined the Melanoma Research Alliance as President & CEO in 2016. Building on more than 25 years of executive non-profit and public health leadership experience, Mr. Kaplan has a proven record as a passionate supporter of health research and policy. Mr. Kaplan is responsible for strategic direction, overall management and raising capital to achieve MRA’s mission of ending suffering and death due to melanoma and to foster collaboration with all stakeholders to accelerate powerful research, advance cures, and prevent more melanomas.

Mr. Kaplan has lived with HIV for over 25 years and has headed nonprofits and patient advocacy groups across the United States and internationally. He has managed international and domestic grant-making portfolios focused on disease surveillance, prevention and treatment. Prior to joining MRA, he served as the President and CEO of Washington, DC-based AIDS United. Additional leadership positions have included Executive Director of Cascade AIDS Project in Portland, Ore., Vice President of International HIV Programs at the Academy for Educational Development, and Deputy Director roles at both the Futures Group International and the National Youth Advocacy Coalition in Washington, DC. He has served on the boards of several organizations focusing on everything from health issues to grant-making, and behavior health to healthy youth development.

Mr. Kaplan has been touched in his personal family orbit by both melanoma as well as another cancer, mesothelioma, and holds a passion for finding better treatments and cures to reduce the suffering brought about by Melanoma. Mr. Kaplan holds a B.A. in Child Psychology and an M.A. in Adult & Community Education from the University of Minnesota.

Queen Victoria believes in leadership through service. Currently she serves as Queen of The Royal Court. Through her role as Queen, she leverages her intersectionality to advise and guide organizations and systems. She also serves as the National President of FLUX, a network of trans leaders dedicated to raising the profile of trans and gender non-conforming communities. Her majesty has also been a member of such bodies as the Los Angeles County Prevention Planning Council, the Los Angeles County Commission on a HIV Health Services, the Transgender Service Provider Network and The California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities – Boyle Heights.

Tina Hoff is a Senior Vice President and Director of Health Communication and Media Partnerships at the Kaiser Family Foundation where she oversees multi-faceted public information partnerships with leading media and corporate partners alongside health departments, national leadership groups, community organizations, foundations and others to address pressing health and social issues.

Over the past two decades, Ms. Hoff has developed and directed large-scale campaign son HIV/AIDS and other social issues, both here in the U.S. and internationally, including, most recently, Greater Than AIDS, a leading national public information response to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic.

In 2004, Ms. Hoff played a lead role in organizing the first-ever meeting of media leaders from across the globe at the United Nations. She has also directed research on health communications. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards, including eight Emmys, two Peabody Awards, and a National Academy of TV Arts & Sciences Governor’s Award. Ms. Hoff holds a B.S. from the University of Virginia.

Trish Karlin is the Executive Vice President, External Affairs and Business Development, for EGPAF. Trish leads a global team that directs business planning, resource development, marketing and communications for EGPAF’s international programs, which represented $140 million in HIV service delivery, advocacy and research in 2013.

Trish joined EGPAF in its early days, and has supported its exponential growth over the past 20 years, particularly in the development and successful implementation of international AIDS care and research programs in countries hardest hit by the pandemic. Since joining EGPAF in 1994, Trish has played a central role in the establishment of HIV prevention and care programs in more than 20 countries, including India, China, and multiple countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Trish holds a Masters in Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the University of Southern California¹s Marshall School of Business and a B.A. in Public Policy and Child Development from Hampshire College. Trish serves on the Advisory Board of The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and on the Board of Directors of the John M Lloyd Foundation. Trish is a Senior Fellow at the USC Marshall School of Business Society and Business Lab.