HIV & PrEP: Pathway to End the Epidemic

Daisy Rivera is a bilingual clinical PA at Tower Health, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, in Philadelphia, PA where she was born and raised. Her parents are from Puerto Rico and came to Philadelphia as teenagers. In accompanying her mom to her medical appointments and noticing that providers did not look like them or speak their language, she vowed she would help and serve her community. During PA school at Philadelphia University, she shadowed two PAs, one in pediatrics and the other in HIV and it unknowingly steered her on the trajectory to her current position. PA Rivera has come full circle and has been at St. Christopher’s Immunology department providing multidisciplinary patient / family-centered pediatric, adolescent, and young adult primary care and HIV specialty care for seventeen plus years. She is an advocate for the PA profession as well as her community. She is the Director of PA studies and received the 2023 William H. Marquardt Community Health Access Fellows award for serving as a mentor and preceptor dedicated to promoting accessible primary and preventive healthcare among underserved populations. She serves on the hospital’s culture and belonging council, LGBTQIA + initiative team, and sits on the Population Health Committee.