Thursday, January 25, 2007

Welcome To My Blog

My name is Stewart Landers and today my health is fine. This is no small feat as I have been living with HIV since 1985 and am also a cancer survivor (Burkett's lymphoma, 2003). Do not fear, Landers Health Report will be more than an update on my health. My work has been in the field of public health since 1983 and I am now a senior consultant with John Snow, Inc. based in Boston, Massachusetts. Previously I've worked for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health HIV/AIDS Bureau, the Boston Department of Health and Hospitals (now called the Boston Public Health Commission) and Fenway Community Health.

My background, however, strictly speaking, is not in public health. I was trained as a city planner at MIT in the 1970s and as an attorney at Harvard Law School in the early 80s. My passion throughout my life has been activism on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trangender and intersex (LGBTI) individuals. I've been lucky enough to be able to combine my work life and my passion and I hope that comes through in my posts. The recently deceased Eric Rofes, a leader in gay activism and health issues, always preached that being part of a movement was a wonderful way to give meaning to one's life. I think he hit it on the head.

Pieces of my work can be found scattered around the internet if one googles my name, so this blog will provide background and context for the work I've done plus a chance to offer commentary on the issues in my field and just about everything else. My partner and I are news junkies and I have lots of opinions on what is going on in this country that may find an outlet here.

Please don't hesitate to send thoughts or comments. I'll certainly read and will try to respond to all serious ones.