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 PrEP has made prevention accessible for more people. But according to the 2024 State of HIV Stigma Report from GLAAD and Gilead, knowledge about HIV is actually dropping — belief that people living with HIV can live long, healthy lives fell 5% between 2020 and 2024, and just 37% of Gen Z respondents said they feel knowledgeable about HIV at all. Stigma, meanwhile, is creeping back up.
For Gilead Sciences, that disconnect between what science can do and what culture actually believes, has become the animating challenge of its corporate responsibility work. None of that is a science problem. It’s a trust problem, an access problem, a stigma problem — and Gilead has increasingly bet that closing it requires cultural firepower, not just clinical infrastructure.
Grammy-winning artist Durand Bernarr is part of that effort. “As an artist with a platform, it’s important for me to shed light and awareness on things that directly affect my community, especially Black, queer, transgender individuals, considering they’re the most affected groups,” Bernarr said. “It’s important that those of us that are in the spotlight are educating people with our platforms.”
Rashad Burgess, VP of Corporate Responsibility, Gilead.
Photo Courtesy of Gilead
Rashad Burgess, VP of Corporate Responsibility at Gilead, sees that kind of public candor as the whole point. “Silence allows stigma and misinformation to survive,” he said. “When trusted voices speak openly about HIV, they make it easier for others to ask questions without shame.”
For Bernarr, it’s become a natural extension of who he is as an artist. “Being a part of an organization that provides tools and resources to people most impacted by HIV and AIDS just lets me know that my artistry and advocacy are in harmony,” he reflected. “We’re at least starting the conversation that, honestly, could really result in saving someone’s life.”
Gilead has been working with influencers to bridge this gap. Lil Nas X brought a Southern AIDS Coalition advocate onstage at the 2021 MTV VMAs and later raised more than $500,000 for HIV and LGBTQ+ charities through his album’s “baby registry.” Sheryl Lee Ralph’s DIVA Foundation throws an annual benefit concert, DIVAS Simply Singing!, dedicated to HIV awareness and education. Cookie Johnson has become a vocal voice advocating for older adults living with HIV. And Gilead has quietly built out infrastructure behind the scenes too, funding a fellowship with Native Son that trains Black LGBTQ+ creators and advocates on how to talk about HIV publicly, and backing GLAAD’s Black Queer Creative Summit to push for more authentic HIV storytelling in film and TV.
That’s really the throughline of Gilead’s whole approach: Pair the lab work with the culture work. Programs like the COMPASS Initiative, which has reached 28 million people and trained nearly 140,000 community members in the U.S. South, run alongside celebrity-driven awareness pushes and creator fellowships, because reaching people where they scroll matters just as much as reaching them where they get tested. Gilead remains the top private funder of HIV programs in the country, but as Burgess and Gilead’s cultural partners would tell you, funding alone doesn’t dismantle stigma. Conversation does — and in 2026, some of the most important conversations about HIV aren’t happening in exam rooms. They’re happening on stage, on talk shows and in the comments section.
Rashad Burgess, Shahem McLaurin, Jay Tibbitts, Frank Grimsley, Darwin Thompson, Trey Sherman and Osaze Akil attend the inaugural Native Son House sponsored by Gilead.
Photo Courtesy of Gilead
“Scientific progress, the progress that we’ve seen in our medicines and in innovative therapies, hasn’t always translated to equal access for communities,” said Burgess, who has spent more than a decade working at the intersection of science and community. “We see that there are real barriers to care connected to unstable housing, to healthcare systems and where healthcare systems are located. People sometimes also have challenges accessing care and staying in care.”
The numbers back him up. Black Americans make up 13% of the U.S. population, but accounted for 39% of new HIV diagnoses in 2023. Black women — who represent just 13% of the female population — made up half of all new diagnoses among women in 2024, at a rate 12 times higher than white women. Latine individuals accounted for 32% of new diagnoses despite being 19% of the population, and roughly 14% of transgender women in the U.S. are estimated to be living with HIV. More than half of all new cases last year came from Southern states alone.
“Since 2020, Gilead has invested more than $1.7 billion in public health initiatives worldwide, and we are making those investments in the places and systems that can have the greatest impact,” Burgess shared. “We really stand on the shoulders of people who never had the opportunity to take advantage of the scientific advancements that we have today. So many of us feel a very unique sense of responsibility to make sure those advancements count.”
