Melanie Thompson, MD, co-chairs the HIVMA/IDSA HIV Primary Care Guidance Panel and serves on the International Antiviral Society-USA Antiretroviral Therapy Guidelines Panel. She is a past chair of HIVMA and now serves on its Leadership Development Committee. She currently chairs the Ryan White Part A Comprehensive Planning Committee for Metropolitan Atlanta and serves on the mayor of Atlanta’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee. In 1988, she founded the AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta, and, as the consortium’s principal investigator, led over 400 studies in the areas of HIV, sexually transmitted infections and viral hepatitis, contributing to the Food and Drug Administration licensure of over 40 drugs for HIV treatment and prevention. She has been a clinical researcher, provider of HIV clinical care and policy advocate for over 35 years and maintains an HIV primary care practice in Atlanta. She is a passionate advocate for social justice and health equity.