Javid Syed was born and raised in a Muslim family in Bombay, India and came to the U.S. in 1989. He did his BSc in Biology at Bowling Green, OH and his Masters in Public Health at Columbia University, New York.

Throughout his career Javid has linked community organizing, service provision, and research to inform his advocacy around issues of health and social justice. He has worked primarily in the specific context of Asian and Pacific Islander immigrant communities and through that connected with the broader issues of race, gender, sexuality, and class both within the US and transnationally. He has worked through multiple strategies of community organizing, service provision, policy advocacy and philanthropy to address the core issues that impact a community's access to health and wellness.

In 1993, when he moved to New York City, Javid worked at the Direct Observed Therapy clinic at Harlem Hospital while completing his Masters. There he developed a proposal that involved treatment education with DOT clients to involve them to become advocates for DOT in their peer community. The majority of the clients at the clinic were HIV positive.

For the last seven years Javid has worked on Asian and Pacific Islander immigrant HIV and AIDS issues in various capacities. From 1995-2000 he worked at the Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS, New York. There he ran a prevention program, and organized a policy network of Asian and Pacific (A&PI) Islander service providers on the East Coast to bring visibility to immigrant HIV-related needs and advocate for increased resources for immigrant communities. The last four years Javid has worked at the Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center in San Francisco building the capacity of A&PI community members and service providers across the U.S. and it's affiliated Pacific Island Jurisdictions. The goal of this work was to enhance the community's ability to get involved in policy advocacy and adapt and tailor effective HIV interventions. He worked closely with a consortium of Gay Men of Color capacity builders to collaboratively address the issues of increasing sero-conversion amongst men who have sex with men (MSMs) and transgender women of color. Linked with the capacity building work, Javid has also overseen the implementation of research projects in partnership with Center for AIDS Prevention Studies focusing on A&PI prevention issues of HIV positive MSMs and HIV negative youth. He has presented talks about the HIV needs of A&PIs at various regional, national, and international forums.

Besides his health-focused work, Javid has also been providing leadership in queer people of color and arts organizing. He helped found the Audre Lorde Project, a center for community organizing for queer people of color in Brooklyn and is a funding panel member for Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice for their International Fund.

E-mail: javidattag@gmail.com Phone: (212) 253-7922