On March 9, 2025, SFGMC performed at the opening session of the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center.
The performance gave our singers an opportunity to thank the infectious disease researchers and medical professionals working to advance treatment and find cures for illnesses including HIV. Our setlist featured music that has played a pivotal part in the Chorus’s history.
We were honored to share our music and bring a moment of joy to this gathering.
Music, Memory, and a Call to Action
The conference’s opening session brought researchers and advocates together amid uncertainty about federal support for science and HIV services. Speakers urged the scientific community to defend its work and the people who depend on it. The Chorus contributed a song reflecting on survival through the epidemic’s most devastating years—a reminder of the lives and communities behind the research.
The session also featured the Martin Delaney Presentation, delivered by Rebecca Denison, founder of WORLD (Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Diseases), and introduced by longtime advocate Dawn Averitt. Denison reflected on decades of activism and progress while emphasizing that advances in treatment must be matched by access and support.
“So now is the time for moral courage.”
— Rebecca Denison, speaking at CROI’s opening session
For SFGMC, sharing music in this setting connected remembrance with encouragement for the people continuing that work.
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Source
Bay Area Reporter, “HIV confab opens in San Francisco with call to action,” by Liz Highleyman, March 10, 2025. Read the original article
