Steve Wakefield,

Steve Wakefield is the Legacy Project Director after prior service as Global Volunteer Coordinator for the NIH-sponsored HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) with the leadership group at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle Washington. The Legacy Project is the HVTN's program to increase minority involvement in trials. Steve currently serves on the planning bodies for CROI and AIDS Vaccine Conferences. He has been part of the AVAC board since 1995. Steve also serves his local community through participation on the Washington State Governor's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (GACHA).

Steve is an HIV-negative health care advocate with over thirty years of involvement in projects that increase community participation, particularly for African Americans. He was the national chair of the NIH HIV Network for Prevention Trials (HIVNET) volunteer Community Advisory Board from 1995 to 1997, and former National CAB chair of the CPCRA, Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS, and community representative on the Executive Committee of the Family Health International- based HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN). 1999 he stepped down as Executive Director of The Night Ministry, an organization serving homeless and runaway youth in Chicago. Other leadership included public service on the City of Chicago Department of Public Health Board and NIAIDS' AIDS Research Advisory Council (ARAC) and Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council (OARAC). Steve has presented workshops and forums on vaccine research to local, national and international audiences from tribal gatherings to scientific symposia.