GLAAD Partners with Gilead Sciences to Bring HIV Awareness Tour to Morehouse College

Morehouse College will host the third stop of GLAAD's Generation Z & HIV: Human Issue and Southern Solution HBCU Tour, a critical initiative addressing HIV awareness and prevention among college students in partnership with Gilead Sciences.

The event is scheduled for March 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, with attendance open to Morehouse College and Atlanta University Center students and faculty.

Hampton University athlete Byron Perkins Jr. will join Darian Aaron, GLAAD's director of local news, to discuss sexual health, stigmas surrounding sexually transmitted diseases, and the benefits of PrEP, the HIV prevention drug. The conversation aims to equip students with practical tools and information to protect their health.

Addressing a Critical Health Gap

Perkins emphasized that HIV remains a serious concern in Black communities across all demographics, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, or number of partners.

Rashad Burgess, vice president of corporate responsibility at Gilead Sciences, explained the partnership's purpose extends beyond information sharing to normalizing testing and other prevention methods among college students.

"The purpose of the tour is to make information understandable and normalize testing and other prevention methods."

Building Momentum Across HBCU Campuses

The tour launched at Jackson State University in October 2025, featuring special guest Snoop Dogg. The rapper shared a personal perspective on the HIV/AIDS crisis, discussing his friend and former Death Row Records labelmate Eazy-E, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1995.

"There was no medical information to let us know what was going on. We were so scared we stopped everything," Snoop Dogg reflected on the early days of the epidemic.

At Alabama State University on February 5, the second tour stop, student feedback revealed important insights about effective communication strategies. One student challenged organizations to move beyond traditional outreach methods, noting that platforms like TikTok capture their generation's attention more effectively than conventional materials.

"Putting a banner on your table is not going to get me to take heed to your message. When things like TikTok are what is getting a lot of our attention. You have to find mechanisms that make it relatable to us as the new generation."

These student responses underscore a generational gap in communication and highlight the importance of creating inclusive conversations that meet students where they areβ€”a principle central to the tour's design and implementation.

The GLAAD and Gilead Sciences partnership represents a strategic approach to addressing public health disparities affecting HBCU students, combining corporate resources with community-focused outreach to combat stigma and promote preventive care.

Originally reported by Black Enterprise.