As a longtime organizer for health justice, it is an honor to be a part of disability justice movements and efforts to confront the Long COVID crisis. Today, I am writing to let you know I will be leaving my staff position at Strategies for High Impact and Long COVID Justice at the end of the year, though I will remain an advisor in an auxiliary capacity.
I’m delighted to announce that our co-director Emi Kane will become the director of S4HI and LCJ. She will continue to anchor the organization, along with our communications and narrative work and BIPOC Fellows program. Our senior fellow Gabriel San Emeterio will continue to focus on our NYC efforts and our HIV Complexities Project, Voula O’Grady will continue to manage our resources, digital publications and presence, and community engagement, and Brunem Warshaw will continue to keep things rolling as our administrative and operations coordinator.
It’s a time with many challenges on the horizon. I don’t need to tell any of you how crucial this work is.
I am so grateful to be leaving the project in such good hands, with full confidence that this team, working with our program collaborators and contractors, will not only sustain but expand our vital efforts in the years ahead.
Through our education efforts, communications and narrative work, and organizing and policy work, S4HI/LCJ is rising up for justice and care today, while fighting for the future we all need.
I’m proud of our pivotal work, including our central Pandemics are Chronic statement, the new Long COVID Essentials resource pages (in collaboration with The Sick Times), and our federal and local advocacy efforts including pushing for crucial changes to the NIH RECOVER program. And in the months ahead, I’m looking forward to the release of our action plan on Long COVID in NYC, and a vibrant online hub for our Listening for the Long Haul oral histories (in partnership with University of Illinois Chicago).
This September, I began classes at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center's Biography and Memoir program. I will be taking time to focus on that work in 2025 — you can follow that endeavor and more at @TheCrankyQueer on Instagram, Twitter (for now), and Substack.
Thanks so much for your support and partnership,
JD
Co-director, Strategies for High Impact / Long COVID Justice