When COVID hit, it sent a chilling message to those who have lived through the HIV epidemic --  the last big one in the US -- and know very well what can happen when governments ignore people in a health crisis and when poor countries can't afford the treatment. I’ll give you a hint. By the end of 2019, the global death toll from AIDS was about 33 million people, and scientists estimate another 1.7 million people to get infected with the virus every year. That is what can happen. 

To help me understand what is at stake in this pandemic and the best lessons learned, I have the great honor to talk to the remarkable Professor Gregg Gonsalves, who left school to become one of the leading AIDS activists. He carried the fight against the disease in South Africa, decided to get his Bachelor’s degree at Yale in his late 30s and later a PhD and received the MacArthur “Genius Award”.