Lambda Legal Welcomes Ford Fellow Caroline Sacerdote to its HIV Project

Lambda Legal today announced Ford Foundation Fellow Caroline Sacerdote has joined its legal team, working out of the organization’s headquarters office in New York City. Awarded the fellowship based on her objective to help secure equal and affordable access to care and treatment for people living with and at higher risk for HIV, the 2015 Harvard Law graduate will be working within Lambda Legal’s HIV Project.

“While great strides have been made over the past few years, there are still huge disparities in access to healthcare in the United States, and these disparities disproportionately impact LGBT persons and people living with HIV,” Sacerdote said. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Lambda Legal to address these issues and hope to contribute to the excellent work Lambda Legal is already doing.”

Sacerdote will focus on expanding the HIV Project’s efforts to address access to prevention technology. When taken consistently, PrEP is nearly 100% effective at preventing transmission of HIV. However, PrEP is expensive, costing an average of $13,000 annually. By working with Lambda Legal’s HIV Project, Sacerdote hopes to ensure that low-income individuals are not barred from access to any of the most effective prevention technologies available.

“We are delighted to welcome Caroline to Lambda Legal and the HIV Project. The Ford fellowship and Caroline’s commitment to securing equal and affordable access to care for people living with and at higher risk for HIV represents an exciting expansion of our work in this area,” said Scott Schoettes, HIV Project Director. “Caroline is dedicated and driven, and we eagerly look forward to her contributions to our work.”

At Harvard, Sacerdote was an Executive Submissions Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender and served on the boards of the HLS chapter of Lambda and Harvard Law Students for Reproductive Justice. She also participated in the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinic—where she worked with the Community Relations Service of the U.S. DOJ—and the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard. She has previously interned with the HIV Law Project; the Center for Reproductive Rights as a Summer Ford Fellow; and the Legal Resources Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa as a Human Rights Program Summer Fellow.

The Ford Foundation Post-Graduate Fellowship in Public Interest Law funds one year of full-time work at a Ford Foundation grantee organization.

Read the press release.