Class of 2008-09 HIV Human Rights Attorney WORLD (Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Disease) U.S. Positive Women's Network (PWN)  New York, New York  Email: bkelly@womenhiv.org Phone: 646.853.2983

Profile:

Brook earned her B.A. summa cum laude in cultural anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and studied and performed Afro-Brazilian dance.  She also acted as a Field Assistant for NARAL Pro Choice America, and served as a tutor for the Academic Advancement Program at UCLA.  Brook earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as Senior Articles Editor for the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, and published “The Evolution of State Sexual Harassment Law” in its 2006 Annual Review.  She also helped found the Georgetown Journal of Global Critical Race Perspectives and participated in a human rights fact finding mission to Swaziland with the Georgetown International Women’s Human Rights Clinic.  Brook worked with immigrant and low-income women on issues of reproductive justice as a Harry A. Blackmun Fellow at the California Women’s Law Center and on appellate level litigation at the ACLU Reproductive Rights Project.   Also during law school, she spent a year as a law clerk with the Service Employees International Union, and also clerked for the Lawyers’ Committee on Civil Rights.  Brook recently completed a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Ronald L. Ellis in the United States Southern District of New York.

During her fellowship with The Women's Collective, Brook worked in collaboration with several other WLPPFP Fellows, including Sandy Han with Georgetown Law’s Harrison Institute Health Policy Clinic, Aziza Ahmed with the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), and Aram Schvey with Georgetown Law’s International Women’s Human Rights Clinic (IWHRC).  For example, she helped organize a project with IWHRC for the clinic students to   identify issues concerning women living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS in Washington, DC, such as domestic violence and lack of adequate housing, which can be addressed by a change or adoption of new legislation or guidelines.  She also served as a supervising attorney for clinical students during the IWHRC’s fact-finding trip to Guyana to research women’s human rights and HIV/AIDS in that country in comparison to the situation in Washington, DC.  In Guyana, Brook arranged interviews, handled logistics, supervised student interviews, and gave presentations to USAID/PEPFAR personnel, as well as local NGO’s on TWC’s model programs and on domestic violence and HIV.  She has also partnered with Sandy Han at Georgetown’s Harrison Health Policy Clinic, where one of the students examined the effects of the new HHS health provider refusal clause regulations on women living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS and researched other issues affecting women living with HIV/AIDS in Washington, DC.  Brook submitted the comments to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the refusal clause regulations.  Brook held focus groups meetings at TWC with clients to determine what types of issues are most relevant to them, and she conducted extensive research on state and federal laws regarding HIV/AIDS.  Working in collaboration with organizations including the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) and the National Women and AIDS Collective (NWAC), Brook helped create a talking points memorandum on health care reform to use with constituents at town hall meetings and other venues. 

She also represented TWC at numerous meetings, conferences, and events, such as the Federal AIDS Policy Partnership (FAPP) meetings, the Healthy Youth Coalition meetings, and meetings of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA).  Brook attended a DC special needs housing hearing, where she learned that insufficient housing is available for low-income people in the District, as well as the Sister Song membership meeting in Atlanta, GA.  While at a presentation at the Kaiser Family Foundation on changing attitudes on HIV, She had the opportunity to talk with Jeff Crowley, President Obama’s HIV/AIDS Secretary.  Moreover, she received a full scholarship to attend the annual CDC-sponsored HIV/AIDS Prevention Conference in Atlanta, Georgia in August. She also received a scholarship to the North American Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit sponsored by the National AIDS Housing Coalition, the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. On April 7, 2009, Brook was invited to the White House to attend the announcement of CDC 91/2 Minute Campaign by officials in the Obama Administration.  She also submitted a draft resolution on women and HIV at home and abroad to Congresswoman Barbara Lee.  On behalf of the Women’s Collective, Brook testified at a District of Columbia Department of Human Services hearing on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by homeless shelters in the District regarding persons living with HIV/AIDS.  She also wrote and submitted final comments:  “The Women’s Collective Comments on the Proposed Comprehensive Plan For Accessibility of Homeless Shelters under the Americans with Disabilities Act."

Brook completed her WLPPFP fellowship last fall with the release of a report written and researched in partnership with the Georgetown Women’s International Women’s Human Rights Clinic, “A Capitol Offense: The Gender Dimensions of Washington D.C.’s HIV/AIDS Crisis.”  Recently she became the HIV Human Rights Attorney for the U.S. Positive Women’s Network (PWN) where she continues to work within a human rights framework to increase access to justice for HIV- positive women in the United States. During the U.S. visit of United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on Housing, Raquel Rolnik, Brook was asked to testify and present a workshop with Tzili Mor (2006-2007, U.S.) on the intersections between gender, HIV, and inadequate housing in the U.S., and is currently developing human rights trainings for HIV-positive women on issues of punitive HIV laws, sexual and reproductive health rights, employment, and housing.