National AIDS Policy Director Steps Down

Jeffrey Crowley announced Thursday he will leave his position as director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) at the end of the year.

“After developing and releasing the ‘National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States’ and spending a year and a half on implementation, now is an appropriate time for me to move on to the next phase of my life,” Crowley wrote in an open letter to colleagues.

Crowley said the administration already has begun the search for his replacement, and that implementing the National Strategy will remain a White House priority in the coming months.

“I cannot fully express how honored I feel to have been given the task of leading the process to develop our country’s first comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy,” Crowley wrote. “I am grateful to the HIV community and our many, many partners inside and outside of government that helped us develop a roadmap for moving forward at this critical juncture in our nation’s response to the domestic HIV epidemic.”

Crowley was also the administration’s senior advisor on disability, and he thanked this constituency as well: “I am also grateful to the many members of the disability community with whom I have worked on issues related to health and long-term services and supports, civil rights, housing, and other issues.”

As possible replacements for Crowley, observers cite ONAP Deputy Director Greg Millet, and Chris Collins, vice president and director of public policy at AmfAR. Collins’ 2007 paper “Improving Outcomes: Blueprint for a National AIDS Plan for the United States,” is seen by many as the basis for the National Strategy.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!