This came from Craig's boss telling about his achievements while working at APLA Health since 2014. Congratulations to Craig!!
It’s with a very heavy heart that I have to tell you that Government Affairs Associate Director Craig Pulsipher will be leaving APLA Health at the end of the month. Craig has accepted a position as Legislative Director for Equality California and will be relocating to Sacramento.
For those of you who do not know, Craig has been with Government Affairs since 2014 and in that time has established an unparalleled leadership role for himself – and for APLA Health – in political and policy circles at the local, state and national level.
I went through all of Craig’s annual performance reviews since he started in Government Affairs and realized I couldn’t begin to cover all of Craig’s accomplishments and successes while he has been with APLA Health. But let me use his work on PrEP accessibility and affordability as an example.
Craig took on PrEP when he first started at APLA Health and the result in large part because of his leadership has been a series of programs, budget initiatives, regulatory improvements, research papers and state bills that have substantially altered the PrEP environment in California. This included spearheading the effort to secure Board of Supervisors support for Los Angeles County’s PrEP Centers of Excellence; a research effort funded by the University of California’s AIDS Research Program examining PrEP acceptance and uptake among gay men of color in California; advancing state budget requests to support PrEP navigation programs across the state; ensuring the state Office of AIDS implemented comprehensive PrEP assistance and co-pay coverage programs for insured, underinsured and uninsured patients, as well confidential PrEP access for underage individuals on their parents insurance plans; working with the state’s insurance commissioner to ensure most private insurers covered PrEP at no cost to beneficiaries; participation in shaping the nation’s PrEP utilization guidelines; successfully advancing two innovative PrEP bills through the state legislature, the first mandating that people who test negative for HIV are given information on PrEP, the second SB 159 -- providing pharmacy access to PrEP starter kits and prohibiting prior authorization for PrEP – the first bill of its kind in the nation.
I think it is safe to say that to a stunning degree, the landscape on PrEP acceptance, affordability and accessibility in California (and beyond) has been shaped and advanced by efforts initiated or led by Craig Pulsipher.
In his first year in Government Affairs, Craig carved out a leadership role for himself in a statewide effort to reform California’s criminal HIV laws, an effort that had been percolating for years but achieved major successes with his participation. He established a leadership role for himself first with the California HIV Alliance, advocating for programs, funding and legislation at the state level. He then helped create and has led the California End the Epidemics Coalition, a group of statewide organizations that advocates to end HIV, hepatitis, STD and drug overdose epidemics. With his leadership, the organization morphed from a handful of organizations to over 180 members from various communities, and has to date successfully conducted in person advocacy events in Sacramento and worked with legislative health and budget staff to bring in nearly $110 million to support these syndemic efforts. This funding has included PrEP assistance and navigation programs, pilots for HIV and Aging, support for hep C and harm reduction efforts, and in the last legislative season, some $30 million for syphilis control, the largest increase in state funding to fight STDs in living memory.
Craig also focused on policy, programs and funding directly supporting FQHCs and is recognized as a leader locally at the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County and in Sacramento through the California Primary Care Association. His participation in part resulted in successful budget allocations for supplemental payments to clinics when the state removed 340B from Medi-Cal Managed Care. And in 2021 Craig was one of two community advocates who led CPCA’s legislative effort to regulate pharmacy benefit managers and prohibit manufacturers from restricting 340B transactions at contract pharmacies.
I could go on and on. Did I even mention monkeypox? No, but I also have to mention his skills as one of the best writers and editors I’ve ever worked with. Many of the policy analyses, news releases, and public statements posted to APLA Health and circulated to our mailing lists over the past several years have come from Craig’s desk.
Craig has always been mission driven, committed to LGBTQ+ and HIV healthcare and civil rights, as well as to addressing and eliminating disparities impacting communities of color, and especially gay men of color, across multiple sectors.
Working with Craig has been one of the greatest pleasures in my 30+ years at APLA Health. He’s been the best of collaborators, and engaging thinker, a wise and insightful counselor, a great drinking buddy, a lot of fun and someone I am so fortunate to call a friend.
No one is indispensable. But some people are irreplaceable. Craig is one of them.
Please join me in thanking him for all of his astonishing work at APLA Health and in wishing him a fond farewell . . . and huge success in his next venture with Equality California.
He’s going to be missed . . .