WASHINGTON, February 26, 2009

AIDS Action congratulates Jeffrey Crowley, an openly gay man with significant knowledge and experience in health care and HIV/AIDS for his appointment as Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP). He joins a well respected and dedicated team in the Executive Office of the President's Domestic Policy Council (DPC) and reports to Director Melody Barnes who has a long standing commitment to HIV/AIDS. 

Jeff Crowley's appointment is the beginning of delivery on a promise made by President Obama to people living with, affected by and at risk for HIV/AIDS  that their needs will be included in the health care reform discussion and that a National AIDS Strategy will be developed which will establish outcomes, strategies and a timetables to end the domestic epidemic and demonstrate leadership on how best to tackle the global challenges of HIV/AIDS says Rebecca Haag, Executive Director of AIDS Action. She added, Jeff has a near perfect combination of compassion and expertise, covering disability policy, HIV/AIDS policy, Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance. He has demonstrated a long standing commitment to ending healthcare disparities and ensuring access to care and treatment for all those living with HIV/AIDS. We look forward to working with Jeff, the ONAP team, and the President as we all focus on health care reform and develop a National AIDS Strategy. This is an outstanding choice by the President.

Jeffrey Crowley is well known to AIDS Action in his recent capacity as Senior Research Scholar at the Health Policy Institute of Georgetown University where he has advised HIV/AIDS organizations on strategies to improve access to health care for those whom they serve. His prior work at the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) demonstrates his long commitment and his strong management experience.

Crowley's 15 years of direct and research experience in health care issues demonstrates this Administration's commitment to evidence based HIV/AIDS prevention, and to treatment and care for all those living with HIV as part of the national health care reform efforts. It is significant that he is being named in advance of the White House's Health Care summit. He will be immediately helpful on advancing health care reform, including an ability to focus on prevention and care for all chronic disease and the inclusion of HIV/AIDS in Medicaid and Medicare.