Dr. Richard Parker is a medical anthropologist, whose research focuses on the social and cultural construction of gender and sexuality, the social aspects of HIV/AIDS, and the relationship between social inequality, health, and disease. He has conducted long-term research in Brazil since the early 1980s, as well as comparative studies in Asia, Africa, North America, and other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition to his academic work, Dr. Parker has also served on numerous commissions and held a range of positions in program and advocacy work. In 1992, he served as chief of the prevention unit for the Brazilian National AIDS Program, and from 1992 to 1995, as executive director of the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA), the largest non-governmental AIDS-service and advocacy organization in Brazil. In 1995, he was named the secretary general of ABIA's Board of Directors, and in 1998 he was elected as ABIA's president. Dr. Parker currently serves on the board of directors of the Commission on Citizenship and Reproduction (CCR) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Citizen's Legal Aid for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and ICASO, the International Council of AIDS-Service Organizations, based in Toronto, Canada.

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