There is an urgent need to train and invest in new leaders in HIV/AIDS who will learn from past successes and failures.  To meet this need, the M·A·C AIDS Fund has invited two of the world’s leading educational institutions – Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) – to create the M·A·C Leadership Initiative.  Through the M·A·C Leadership Initiative, a group of emerging leaders in the field of HIV/AIDS from one country will be identified and, through a competitive process, selected for this fellowship program. The fellows would then convene in New York for a two-month forum, where they will work with current leaders and with each other to information share, develop skills, and create a project that addresses a specific HIV/AIDS crisis in their country and that they will carry out over the next year and beyond.

Each year, a group of fellows will be chosen from a different country, creating a network of fellows who will be able to lean upon each other for best practices and shared experiences.

It is our hope, our vision that a network of AIDS experts will emerge as a result of this program.  These experts will lead the next generation against the fight against and perhaps to the end of, HIV/AIDS.

M·A·C has consistently and fearlessly stood firm in the fight against HIV/AIDS and through the M·A·C AIDS Fund Leadership Initiative, we are hoping to create a group of leaders who will do the same.