Oscar Raul Lopez began his career in public health in 1987 working with Planned Parenthood and VAC conducting sex education in public schools and HIV outreach and testing in South Texas. Then in Austin he continued his passion for HIV and disease prevention working with the LGBT community, intravenous drug users and Latinos. He ran a multi-agency homeless/runaway youth program that provided medical care, substance abuse counseling, HIV prevention, syringe exchange, as well as food and housing. Oscar also served as the Director of Informe SIDA, which at the time was the only Latino specific HIV/AIDS organization in Texas.
Oscar moved to Washington DC and worked for the National Minority AIDS Council, developing HIV treatment adherence conferences across the country before becaming the Director of HIV Education and Capacity Building for the Office of Minority Health Resource Center where he provided capacity building for minority serving organizations across the United States and its territories.
In New York, City Oscar worked at Engenderhealth International as the United States Program Manager developing innovative campaigns to engage ethnic/minority men in sexual and reproductive health care throughout the United States and Latin America. He then served as Director of Communications and Health Policy for the Latino Commission of AIDS helping pass HIV testing legislation in New York State and helping develop the National Latino AIDS Action Network (NLAAN) an organization responsible for coordinating a culturally relevant and effective public health response to the Latino HIV/AIDS epidemic. He served as Co-Chair of NLAAN for three years.
In his 25th year in Public Health, he returned to the Rio Grande Valley to serve as the VAC Director of Education and Prevention overseeing a team of 17 individuals responsible for HIV education, counseling, testing and linkage to care.
Oscar Raul Lopez
Director of Education
Phone:
956-245-1604
E-mail:
[email protected]
