Join us this month for a presentation from our undergraduate Worthington Essay Contest winner, Izumi Vazquez! She will discuss a new perspective on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, centering on the sex-worker-run California Prostitutes Education Project. The SHC Noon Lectures are free and open to anyone interested in the history of the health sciences.

📅 Date: January 15, 2025
🕛 Time: 12 PM EST
📍 Location: Online (Zoom)
⏰ Register by end of day January 13th

Izumi's case study on the sex-worker-run California Prostitutes Education Project (CAL-PEP) sought to challenge the constituents of health expertise in the dominant HIV/AIDS epidemic narrative. This narrative often focuses on the efforts of white gay activists and medical professionals, and tends to foreground sex workers’ sexual activities as the defining aspect of their involvement in the epidemic. A significant element of their outreach was the use of "Honey," a 32-foot recreational vehicle customized as a mobile clinic that allowed CAL-PEP to bring their services directly to the streets and crack houses, providing hot food, drinks, a safe place to rest, and practical tools for safer sex and drug use, all while building trust with their clients. By highlighting sex workers' unreplicable understanding of when, where, and how to approach crack-using women subjugated in sex-for-crack exchanges, Izumi recasts sex workers as key protagonists in the story of HIV/AIDS.

About Izumi Vazquez: Izumi Vázquez (she/her/hers) is a rising senior at Harvard College born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. She is concentrating in History and Science (Medicine and Society honors), with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy, citation in Spanish, and certificate for Civic Engagement. Izumi’s heart lies in community-based care and the intersection of art and healthcare, with a strong focus on equitable care for Hispanic medically underserved communities. 

Believing strongly that housing is healthcare, she was honored to be one of 15 fellows selected for the Getting to Zero MA Coalition Activist Academy, through which she educated communities on HIV prevention and access to care for unhoused individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Izumi has also dedicated herself as a direct service volunteer for Spanish-speaking clients at The Family Van, a mobile health clinic based out of Harvard Medical School. Her volunteer work extends to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she supports patients through the Patient Support Corps, and Boston Children’s Hospital’s Advocating Success for Kids Clinic. Izumi’s dedication to community service is also evident in her creative endeavors, such creating an origami installation for a hospital in San Antonio and supporting Arizona State University’s Center for Public Humanities in launching its first Health Humanities offerings.