CIDNI celebrated Dorcas Baker with a retirement party at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing HUB where coworkers, former classmates, family and friends gathered and shared well wishes and memories.  We thank Dorcas for all of her passion and mobilization in the area of HIV and aging.

If you were unable to attend the celebration or would just like to watch the wonderful words shared about Dorcas, watch the following link: https://vimeo.com/1198812744/4b06f1dbf5

Enjoy a brief biosketch of Dorcas’ accomplishments. She is a registered nurse of 50 years and is currently employed by The Center for Infectious Disease and Nursing Innovation (CIDNI) of The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Nursing as the regional coordinator for the Mid-Atlantic AIDS Education and Training Center (MAETC) Johns Hopkins Regional Performance Site. She develops and monitors all training, consultation, and capacity-building activities for the JHU AETC. She has worked in the field of HIV for 33 years.

Dorcas’ experience at Johns Hopkins began as a research nurse in the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) from 1992 – 2005 which contributed to her vast knowledge and expertise in the field. She has given numerous presentations, workshops, and seminars on HIV/AIDS in older adults in various healthcare and community settings. She coordinated the first CME approved “HIV Over Fifty” conference at Johns Hopkins University in 2002, which became an annual conference starting in 2005. Dorcas organized the production of JHU’s “HIV and Older Adults” DVD in 2009.

She is a member of the Johns Hopkins University HIV and Aging Mentoring Research Group, the national Bringing Equity in Aging to HIV (BREATH) committee, and the scientific committee for the International Workshop on HIV and Aging, where she is also an abstract reviewer.

She participated as an invited panelist for the White House meeting on HIV and Aging, sponsored by the Office of National AIDS Policy in October 2010 and was also an invited panelist at the Georgetown O’Neill Institute’s Integrating HIV and Aging Services to Increase HIV Quality of Life policy project.

She is the co-founder of Older Women Embracing Life (OWEL) support group for women over the age of 50, living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, and the co-founder and coordinator of the Maryland Coalition on HIV and Aging (MCOHA).

She holds a professional membership with the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) and is a member of ANAC’s Expert HIV and Aging Advisory Panel. As a member of the Black Nurses Association Baltimore local chapter, she serves as the Chair of Community Outreach and serves on the Community Advisory Board of the Black Women’s Learning Institute, and volunteers as a Community Educator for the Maryland Alzheimer’s Association.