Here’s a strange paradox of modern medicine: People don’t seem to understand that scientific advances have turned what was once a death sentence into a chronic condition, and pre-exposure prophylaxis has made prevention accessible to more people. But according to GLAAD and Gilead’s 2024 State of HIV Stigma report, knowledge about HIV is actually declining — the belief that people with HIV can live a long, healthy life declined by 5% between 2020 and 2024, and only 37% of Gen Z respondents said they felt knowledgeable about HIV at all. At the same time, stigma began to creep back.
For Gilead Sciences, this disconnect between what science can do and what culture actually believes has become the motivating challenge for its work in corporate responsibility. None of this is a scientific problem. It’s a trust problem, an access problem, and a stigma problem — and Gilead has increasingly bet that shutting it down will require cultural firepower, not just clinical infrastructure.
Grammy Award-winning artist Durand Bernard is part of this effort. “As an artist with a platform, it is important for me to bring light and awareness to things that directly impact my community, especially Black, LGBT individuals, considering that they are the groups most affected,” Bernard said. “It is important that those of us who are in the spotlight educate people through our platforms.”
Rashad Burgess, vice president of corporate responsibility at Gilead, believes that this kind of public candor is the point. “Silence allows stigma and misinformation to survive,” he said. “When trusted voices talk openly about HIV, they make it easier for others to ask questions without shame.”
For Bernard, this became a natural extension of who he is as an artist. “Being part of an organization that provides tools and resources to people most impacted by HIV and AIDS allows me to know that my art and advocacy are in harmony,” he said. “We’re at least starting the conversation that, frankly, could really lead to saving someone’s life.”
Gilead works with influencers to bridge this gap. Lil Nas Sheryl Lee Ralph’s DIVA Foundation holds an annual charity concert, DIVAS Simply Singing!, dedicated to HIV awareness and education. Cookie Johnson has become a powerful voice advocating for seniors living with HIV. Gilead has been quietly building infrastructure behind the scenes as well, funding a fellowship with Native Son that trains Black LGBTQ+ creatives and advocates on how to talk about HIV publicly, and supporting GLAAD’s Black Queer Creative Summit to push for more authentic HIV storytelling in film and television.
This is actually the broad outline of Gilead’s entire approach: pair laboratory work with cultural work. Programs like the COMPASS initiative, which has reached 28 million people and trained nearly 140,000 community members in the U.S. South, work alongside celebrity-led outreach campaigns and creative fellowships, because reaching people where they browse is just as important as reaching people where they are tested. Gilead remains the largest private funder of HIV programs in the country, but as Burgess and Gilead’s cultural partners will tell you, funding alone does not remove stigma. Conversations are being had, and in 2026, some of the most important conversations about HIV will not be happening in exam rooms. They happen on stage, on talk shows, and in the comments section.
“Scientific progress, and the advances we have seen in our innovative medicines and therapies, have not always translated into a level playing field for communities,” said Burgess, who has spent more than a decade working at the intersection of science and society. “We see that there are real barriers to care associated with unstable housing, health care systems and where health care systems are located. People also sometimes face challenges in getting and staying in care.”
The numbers back it up. Black Americans make up 13% of the US population, but account for 39% of new HIV diagnoses in 2023. Black women — who represent just 13% of the female population — accounted for half of all new diagnoses among women in 2024, at a rate 12 times higher than white women. Latino individuals account for 32% of new diagnoses despite being 19% of the population, and it is estimated that approximately 14% of transgender women in the United States are living with HIV. More than half of the new cases last year came from southern states alone.
“Since 2020, Gilead has invested more than $1.7 billion in public health initiatives around the world, and we are making these investments in the places and systems where they can have the greatest impact,” Burgess said. “We really stand on the shoulders of people who have never had the opportunity to benefit from the scientific advances that we have today. Many of us feel a very unique sense of responsibility to make sure that these advances matter.”
