Education Programs
2025 was a transitional year for the POZabilities education programs.
We started off in January with a Forum covering HIV and Cognition, which reached 38 participants.
January, 11, 2025 HIV and Cognition Forum. Dr Ron Ellis presenting from UCSD
We expanded our relationship with the San Diego HIV Community Consortium to provide recurring educational forums on the first Saturday of each month. POZabilities will identify small projects with the potential to provide real value to the community and we will sign an memorandum of understanding, bring them on s a program of PO{Zabilities and provide an annual stipend to help them get started and build their programming. One of those groups was the SDHIVC and we collaborated with them on a weekly education series held at AHF Pharmacy and later moved to the San Diego LGBTQ Community Center.
As the SDHIVC continued to grow we were making plans to further integrate the groups and SDHIVC launched an effort to conduct and sponsor HIV and Aging research program. While we saw the value in that for the community, this new direction was no aligned to the POZabilities mission and introduced new risks in managing Personal Health Information and compliance with HIPAA and related laws. The POZabilities Board of Directors made the decision to separate the organizations. We continue to be supportive of the groups’ new direction and wish them the best.
In the meantime, POZabilities continued to provide, as part of the Healthy Living program, a series of nutritional education forums in partnership with Mama’s Kitchen. These classes, in their third year, took input from a community survey to determine topics for 6 presentations on the impact of nutrition and diet on various co-infections common among the HIV and aging communities. Each session included a cooking demonstration showing how a meal might be prepared using the information provided.
These classes are planned to continue for 2026, although we are looking for a new venue with better access for participants.
At the end of 2025, POZabilities brought on a new board member, Roger Al-Chaikh who will serve as our dedicated Education Director. We look forward to a more robust program in 2026 focused on information that the community can use to make meaningful changes in their lives.
Conferences and Meetings
Members of POZabilities often attend meetings or conferences on topics of interest to the HIV community. We have a limited capability to send representatives from the group to some of the more important events which align with our mission, priorities and are in keeping with our nonprofit status. In 2025, we assisted individuals who attended:
In Person Attendees at the 16th International Workshop on Aging & HIV 2025 with Michael Donovan representing POZabilities
We also have folks who regularly attend a number of other forums in the San Diego Area
San Diego HIV Consortium Forums
We ask that attendees share their experiences with the group. A few have done so on our HIV News Blog.
We expect to continue to gather information both globally and from local organizations that is of interest to the community in 2026.
