Six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) have resigned, furious at what they say is the new administration's regressive health policies and a lack of care shown by President Trump.

Scott Schoettes, Lucy Bradley-Springer, Gina Brown, Ulysses Burley III, Michelle Ogle, and Grissel Granados announced their resignations publicly in a joint letter for Newsweek magazine.



"As advocates for people living with HIV, we have dedicated our lives to combating this disease and no longer feel we can do so effectively within the confines of an advisory body to a president who simply does not care," they wrote.

"The Trump Administration has no strategy to address the on-going HIV/AIDS epidemic, seeks zero input from experts to formulate HIV policy, and—most concerning—pushes legislation that will harm people living with HIV and halt or reverse important gains made in the fight against this disease."

First established in 1995, PACHA is tasked with advising the White House on the best way to tackle the spread of the disease. Medical experts, public health officials, and people living with HIV/AIDS are appointed by each president and hold regular meetings. Roughly 21 people were members before this week's resignations.

But things have been different since Trump arrived in the Oval Office on Jan. 20, former members told BuzzFeed News.

"After the inauguration and after I saw how this administration is going after so many things that make a difference in HIV, I just felt like I can't be on that council and say I was working for the current administration," said Bradley-Springer, a retired nurse and University of Colorado Denver associate professor.

Schoettes, the HIV project director for Lambda Legal, said the administration has shown itself to be anti-science.



"I think there's a general sense that the atmosphere has changed and our job at the council was going to be much harder," he said. "It was my sense that I did not have any real say with this administration and that's in part because it's not an administration that wants to deal in facts, wants to deal in science."

"I think HIV was never a priority for this White House. The Trump campaign refused to even meet with HIV advocates," he said.



Burley, a physician turned public health consultant who was the program director for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America strategy on HIV/AIDS, said the group's meeting in March was held in a nondescript government building, whereas previous meetings were held in the White House or Department of Health and Human Services. "It was in a room previously used for storage," he said. "You could see we were being moved down the totem pole in terms of importance."



A White House source defended the administration, saying domestic policy council (DPC) staff have met with HIV/AIDS representatives several times.

Trump has also hired infectious disease expert Katy Talento to lead health policy on the DPC, a move that was praised by the AIDS Institute. The PACHA members who resigned also never contacted contacted Talento with their concerns, according to the source.