Laurel Sprague

Laurel Sprague is the Regional Coordinator for the Global Network of People Living with HIV, North America (GNP+NA), whose purpose is to bring together the voices of people living with HIV to respond to HIV-related stigma and discrimination, protect human rights, end criminalization based on HIV-status, and ensure equitable access to treatment and care for people living with HIV throughout North America. Laurel has worked in the field of HIV since her own positive diagnosis in 1991 in the areas of prevention, community planning, advocacy, education, and research. Since 2009, she has focused on addressing HIV-related stigma, providing technical assistance for the PLHIV Stigma Index to networks of people living with HIV in North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Laurel teaches Political Theory at Eastern Michigan University and is a PhD candidate at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Her research focuses on global civil society, democratic processes, and the resilience and resistance of marginalized peoples, particularly when faced with stigma and discrimination, criminalization, and human rights abuses.