Charlie Peterson (he/him/él) joined the AFC Board in 2024. He is Director of Business Development at Neelyx Labs, a clinical laboratory and diagnostics company focusing on STI-/HIV prevention through the use of at-home collection kits.  In his role, he works with a large network of community-based, healthcare, and educational organizations to better promote healthcare messaging, linkage to care, self-advocacy opportunities, and STI and HIV testing.  As a foreign-born, mixed-race, gay Latino, Charlie has a vested interest in helping BIPOC communities reduce stigma related to healthcare and to STI testing, taking action to reduce the effects and sources of social determinants of health, and in promoting health equity and advocacy.