Vincent Anthony Crisostomo is an

HIV AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

activist from

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

. He currently serves as Director of Aging Services at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) previously he served as Program Manager of SFAF's Elizabeth Taylor 50-Plus Network at the

San Francisco AIDS Foundation The San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing services for people with HIV/AIDS, with a mission to end the AIDS epidemic in the United States. They were founded in 1982, at the beginning of the AIDS ...

Personal life

Crisostomo grew up

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in a religious family. He attended church frequently and was an

altar boy An altar server is a laity, lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, helps bring up the gifts, brings up t ...

as well as a member of the

church choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

. While the church provided a sense of community, it also promoted intolerance of homosexuality. Eventually, this prompted Crisostomo to leave the church and his home. Crisostomo met his partner Jesse Solomon in 1988 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Solomon was a

physical therapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

who worked with severely disabled children as well as a personal trainer and yoga teacher. They moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1990 and were one of the first 50 same-sex couples to register at the

San Francisco City Hall San Francisco City Hall is the seat of government for the City and County of San Francisco, California. Re-opened in 1915 in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, it is a Beaux-Arts monument to the City Beautiful movement that epitomi ...

. Solomon passed on October 6, 1991 of HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS Work

Volunteering in New York City

Crisostomo began doing

work in 1985 when he was in New York City. One of his jobs was at a club where many patrons began falling sick. He volunteered to do hospital visits for the terminally ill HIV/AIDS patients. Crisostomo himself contracted HIV in 1987 and was diagnosed with AIDS in 1995.

GAPA Community HIV Project and Asian AIDS Project

In 1992, Crisostomo became an HIV AIDS educator in the Asian Pacific Islanders LGBTQ community through the GAPA Community HIV Project (GCHP) and the Asian AIDS Project, which later merged to become the API Wellness Center. He continued to travel back to Guam and the Pacific area to provide assistance on HIV AIDS capacity building and service provision.

Coral Life Foundation

In 2001, Crisostomo moved from San Francisco to Guam to become the Executive Director of the Coral Life Foundation, a community-based organization working on HIV AIDS in the Asia-Pacific Area. Coral Life Foundation was the first

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

in the area to work on HIV AIDS. In that capacity, Crisostomo convened representatives from the six Pacific Island Jurisdictions which included AIDS directors, program staff, community stakeholders, along with capacity-building assistance providers funded by the

Center for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

(CDC) to discuss the state of

HIV prevention HIV prevention refers to practices that aim to prevent the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV prevention practices may be undertaken by individuals to protect their own health and the health of those in their community, or may ...

and care services in their respective jurisdictions. From these discussions PIJAAG was formed to advocate for the provision of quality HIV prevention and care services and to advise national, international, and local policy entities on HIV AIDS issues within the region. Under Crisostomo's leadership, PIJAAG successful advocacy led to a $600,000 increase in the region's HIV Prevention budget, funding of 3 Planning Grants for Care Services and baseline awards for services to those living with HIV.

The Coalition of Asia Pacific Regional Networks on HIV/AIDS (7 Sisters)

Crisostomo later became the Executive Director of 7 Sisters, a broad-based alliance of regional Asia Pacific HIV/AIDS networks based in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. He also served as

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) (, ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an e ...

Asia Pacific NGO Delegate from 2009 to 2010.

50-Plus Network

Crisostomo currently facilitates the 50-Plus Network through the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Publications

Crisostomo co-authored two academic papers on HIV AIDS.
Wong et al. (2011) Development and implementation of a collaborative, multistakeholder research and practice model on HIV prevention targeting Asian/Pacific Islander men in the United States who have sex with men. Am J Public Health Apr 17;101(4):623-31

Nemoto et al. (2003) HIV risk and prevention among Asian/Pacific Islander men who have sex with men: listen to our stories. AIDS Educ Prev Feb;15(1 Suppl A):7-20

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crisostomo, Vincent Living people HIV/AIDS activists People from Tachikawa Activists from California Japanese emigrants to the United States Year of birth missing (living people)