Just a few weeks after launching its Setting the P.A.C.E. initiative, Gilead Sciences is already picking up the tempo with a high-profile partnership.
The pharma recruited Raheem DeVaughn, a multi-Grammy-nominated R&B artist and activist, to join the initiative, which is named for its multipronged approach—spanning prevention, arts and advocacy, community and education—to improving HIV prevention, destigmatizing the disease and boosting health equity among Black cisgender and transgender women and girls. The three-year project kicked off earlier this year with $12.6 million in grant funding pledged to 19 organizations that share those goals.
Throughout his monthlong tour this spring, which comprised a total of 18 concerts across the U.S. and wraps up with two stops in California this weekend, DeVaughn has “been able to reach over 35,000 women in person,” he said in an interview with Fierce Pharma Marketing.
During each show, he shares information and statistics related to the HIV epidemic, and, afterward, audience members are invited to a meet-and-greet that includes representatives from Setting the P.A.C.E. grantee organizations who can connect them with local HIV/AIDS resources.
The tour “has been the perfect opportunity to put me right where I need to be,” DeVaughn said. With a music career spanning more than two decades, he’s developed a “very unique relationship” with his audience, he said, and their response to his work with Setting the P.A.C.E. throughout this tour has been especially positive. Many have pulled him aside at the meet-and-greets to share their stories and “tell me how impactful this has been for them,” he recounted, adding, “it’s been a great connection.”
Joining forces with Gilead has been “amazing,” DeVaughn said, and fits into his longtime work as a community activist—which earned him a key to the city of Washington, D.C., in 2011 and, more recently, a President’s Volunteer Service Award from President Joe Biden, both related to his work around HIV/AIDS.
Meanwhile, from Gilead’s perspective, harnessing DeVaughn’s star power, devoted fan base and commitment to activism represents “an opportunity for a great collaboration,” Deborah Wafer, senior director of public affairs for the pharma’s U.S. virology community engagement and advocacy, said during the interview.
“When we have people like Raheem in the community—someone who’s a trusted voice and is bringing women together—it’s an opportunity to provide education in spaces and places that women are coming to, but also where health messages can be received,” Wafer said.
“Our hope is that we can raise the volume within the Black community around HIV prevention, especially among Black women,” she continued. “We want to try to improve the landscape of HIV in Black women and girls, especially, but also getting Black women to be champions of HIV prevention.”
Essentially, the goal of the Setting the P.A.C.E. initiative is to create a kind of “surround sound” among Black women and girls around the topics of HIV prevention, destigmatization and healthcare, Wafer said.
“The epidemic has been going on a long time, and Black people have always been a part of it, but I think women and girls have always been left behind in this epidemic,” she said. “So we’re hoping that through working with these grantees in many of the same states and cities where we know that the epidemic is in large numbers, that folks who are trusted members in the community can bring this education to life, but in various different formats, through arts and advocacy.”
In addition to sharing those resources during and after his concerts, DeVaughn has also made a point of using his free time between shows to organize roundtable discussions focused on Black women’s empowerment. With support from both Gilead and DeVaughn’s own LoveLife Foundation, the roundtables bring together elected officials, activists, community leaders and more; a recent event following his tour stop in Birmingham, Alabama, included the city’s mayor, Randall Woodfin.
“What’s beautiful about the roundtable discussions is that once you start to peel the layers back on what’s going on in the community and who’s being affected and how they’re being affected, it just further gives an example of how an artist such as myself can use your voice to bring the latest information about breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes, heart disease, mental health, HIV—so much more than you’re personally affected by—to the community,” DeVaughn said. “It’s about impacting change and getting people to care about people.”
Wafer lauded the musician’s dedication to community outreach: “I think it’s really important to recognize what Mr. DeVaughn is doing through his platform, because I’m sure there are a lot of things he could be doing, but the fact that he’s taking the time to do this kind of education—and we know that he’s a trusted voice—it’s very special in the Black community,” she said.