Pernessa C. Seele
Encyclopedia
Pernessa C. Seele is an immunologist and the CEO and founder of Balm in Gilead
, Inc., a religious-based organization that provides support to people with AIDS
and their families, as well as working for prevention of HIV
and AIDS. In 1989 she initiated the Harlem
Week of Prayer, with 50 churches, synagogues and mosques participating. This became an annual event and organizing force for the religious community to respond to the AIDS crisis.
Seele incorporated a growing organization as "The Balm in Gilead, Inc." This "national movement to address public-health issues through communities of faith" has grown to include more than ten thousand churches, and numerous branches in the United States, Africa and the Caribbean. After 30 years in New York, Seele and the organization are now based in Richmond, Virginia
.
, about 20 miles from Charleston
. It was an all-black rural town, where religious revivals were part of the community fabric and a way to mobilize civic action.
Seele studied biology as an undergraduate at Clark University
(now Clark-Atlanta University) where she earned a B.S. In 1979 she earned a master's degree in immunology
at Atlanta University. She went to New York to start a career in science research.
in the immunology of malaria. Then she took a job at Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital in cancer research. Still in her twenties, she moved out of that to do what she called "little jobs".
In the early 1980s, the biological mechanisms of AIDS were still unknown, but the medical community was becoming aware of an epidemic crisis. Seele felt called to use her immunology degree in a different way. Seele developed one of the first AIDS education programs, held at a methadone center. She worked at Harlem Hospital as an administrator in the AIDS Initiative Program. Confronted with the needs of patients and their families in the wards, she decided to try to organize the large Harlem religious community in their support.
Harlem religious communities at first associated the disease with downtown gay men.
In 1989 Seele met with leaders of 50 churches, mosques, and Ethiopian Hebrews, to ask them to come together in prayer and education, for the first Harlem Week of Prayer. Religious congregations were encouraged to include education programs on AIDS and its prevention, as well as to create support for patients and their families. Her leadership was supported by major religious leaders in Harlem: Dr. Preston Washington
, Dr. Frederick B. Williams
, Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker
, Dr. Calvin O. Butts
, Bishop Norman N. Quick, Dr. James A. Forbes
, and numerous others.
By 1991, 100 congregations participated in the annual week of prayer, as the Harlem community came to realize that HIV/AIDS was their disease, too. The Harlem Week of Prayer and mobilization began to receive national attention. Seele was invited to churches and public health groups in other cities to speak about it.
Seele's effort to address public health issues through communities of faith received technical assistance and support from the federal government. She received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) to expand the program to six pilot cities. The CDC recognized the potential of the movement to prevent HIV/AIDS and support patients. Seele incorporated the Balm in Gilead, Inc., to create an organization with non-profit status.
By 2003 the organization reached 10,000 churches, and 70 community organizations had been created to implement its programs in the United States, some African nations, and the Caribbean. Through a cooperative agreement with the CDC, the Balm in Gilead, Inc. operates the Black Church HIV/AIDS National Technical Assistance Center. For years CDC has provided funding and technical assistance to communities of faith to mobilize efforts in education and prevention of HIV/AIDS.
In 2004 Seele and her organization launched the African American Denominational Leadership Health Initiative. It was a partnership between the Balm In Gilead and the women’s societies and councils of three Black religious denominations: the African Methodist Episcopal Church
(AME), the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
and the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
. It was designed to build the capacity of these denominations to address cervical cancer, HIV/AIDS and other health issues in Black communities.
Balm in Gilead
Balm in Gilead is a 1965 play written by American playwright Lanford Wilson.-Dramatic structure:Wilson's first full-length effort, Balm in Gilead centers on a cafe frequented by heroin addicts, prostitutes and thieves...
, Inc., a religious-based organization that provides support to people with AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and their families, as well as working for prevention of HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
and AIDS. In 1989 she initiated the Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
Week of Prayer, with 50 churches, synagogues and mosques participating. This became an annual event and organizing force for the religious community to respond to the AIDS crisis.
Seele incorporated a growing organization as "The Balm in Gilead, Inc." This "national movement to address public-health issues through communities of faith" has grown to include more than ten thousand churches, and numerous branches in the United States, Africa and the Caribbean. After 30 years in New York, Seele and the organization are now based in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
.
Early life and education
Pernessa Seele was born on 15 October 1954 to Luella and Charles Seele in Lincolnville, South CarolinaLincolnville, South Carolina
Lincolnville is a town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. A very small portion of the town extends into Dorchester County. The population was 904 at the 2000 census.As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and used by the U.S...
, about 20 miles from Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
. It was an all-black rural town, where religious revivals were part of the community fabric and a way to mobilize civic action.
Seele studied biology as an undergraduate at Clark University
Clark University
Clark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.Founded in 1887, it is the oldest educational institution founded as an all-graduate university. Clark now also educates undergraduates...
(now Clark-Atlanta University) where she earned a B.S. In 1979 she earned a master's degree in immunology
Immunology
Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and diseases; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders ; the...
at Atlanta University. She went to New York to start a career in science research.
Career
Seele went to New York to work at Rockefeller UniversityRockefeller University
The Rockefeller University is a private university offering postgraduate and postdoctoral education. It has a strong concentration in the biological sciences. It is also known for producing numerous Nobel laureates...
in the immunology of malaria. Then she took a job at Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital in cancer research. Still in her twenties, she moved out of that to do what she called "little jobs".
In the early 1980s, the biological mechanisms of AIDS were still unknown, but the medical community was becoming aware of an epidemic crisis. Seele felt called to use her immunology degree in a different way. Seele developed one of the first AIDS education programs, held at a methadone center. She worked at Harlem Hospital as an administrator in the AIDS Initiative Program. Confronted with the needs of patients and their families in the wards, she decided to try to organize the large Harlem religious community in their support.
Harlem religious communities at first associated the disease with downtown gay men.
"Religious leaders like Frederick Williams and Preston Washington credit a fiery former immunologist, Pernessa C. Seele, for changing the way they see the disease. As an administrator at Harlem Hospital, Ms. Seele grew weary of watching dozens of patients die alone, without the spiritual support of their congregations."
In 1989 Seele met with leaders of 50 churches, mosques, and Ethiopian Hebrews, to ask them to come together in prayer and education, for the first Harlem Week of Prayer. Religious congregations were encouraged to include education programs on AIDS and its prevention, as well as to create support for patients and their families. Her leadership was supported by major religious leaders in Harlem: Dr. Preston Washington
Preston Washington
Preston R. Washington was a prominent minister of Memorial Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. He was a co-founder of the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement and held leadership positions from 1986-2001, bringing millions of dollars in development projects for housing and retail to the...
, Dr. Frederick B. Williams
Frederick B. Williams
Frederick Boyd Williams was a religious leader of national importance in the United States. As Canon of the Church of the Intercession in Harlem, New York from 1971 to 2005, he led an influential congregation, the first in the nation to establish a programmatic response to AIDS. A patron of the...
, Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker
Wyatt Tee Walker
Wyatt Tee Walker is a United States black pastor, national civil rights leader, theologian, and cultural historian. He was a Chief of Staff for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and in 1958 became an early board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference . He helped found the Congress for...
, Dr. Calvin O. Butts
Calvin O. Butts
Calvin O. Butts, III , is the Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in the City of New York, President of the State University of New York College at Old Westbury, and Chairman and founder of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, an engine for $500 million in housing and commercial development...
, Bishop Norman N. Quick, Dr. James A. Forbes
James A. Forbes
James Alexander Forbes, Jr. is the Senior Minister Emeritus of the Riverside Church, an interdenominational church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. He was the first African American minister to lead this multicultural congregation, and served it for 18 years.- Early life and...
, and numerous others.
By 1991, 100 congregations participated in the annual week of prayer, as the Harlem community came to realize that HIV/AIDS was their disease, too. The Harlem Week of Prayer and mobilization began to receive national attention. Seele was invited to churches and public health groups in other cities to speak about it.
Seele's effort to address public health issues through communities of faith received technical assistance and support from the federal government. She received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
(CDC) to expand the program to six pilot cities. The CDC recognized the potential of the movement to prevent HIV/AIDS and support patients. Seele incorporated the Balm in Gilead, Inc., to create an organization with non-profit status.
By 2003 the organization reached 10,000 churches, and 70 community organizations had been created to implement its programs in the United States, some African nations, and the Caribbean. Through a cooperative agreement with the CDC, the Balm in Gilead, Inc. operates the Black Church HIV/AIDS National Technical Assistance Center. For years CDC has provided funding and technical assistance to communities of faith to mobilize efforts in education and prevention of HIV/AIDS.
In 2004 Seele and her organization launched the African American Denominational Leadership Health Initiative. It was a partnership between the Balm In Gilead and the women’s societies and councils of three Black religious denominations: the African Methodist Episcopal Church
African Methodist Episcopal Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A.M.E. Church, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination based in the United States. It was founded by the Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the...
(AME), the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, or AME Zion Church, is a historically African-American Christian denomination. It was officially formed in 1821, but operated for a number of years before then....
and the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church is a historically black denomination within the broader context of Methodism. The group was organized in 1870 when several black ministers, with the full support of their white counterparts in the former Methodist Episcopal Church, South, met to form an...
. It was designed to build the capacity of these denominations to address cervical cancer, HIV/AIDS and other health issues in Black communities.
Legacy and honors (selected)
- 2006 - Seele was the guest of President George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and his wife for his fifth State of the UnionState Of The Union"State Of The Union" is the debut single from British singer-songwriter David Ford. It had previously been featured as a demo on his official website, before appearing as a track on a CD entitled "Apology Demos EP," only on sale at live shows....
address, in which he renewed the government's commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS in the black community. - 2006 - Time magazine listed her among the Top 100 Americans.
- 2008 - Seele was a featured speaker at the XVII International Conference on AIDS at Mexico CityMexico CityMexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. - 1996, Manhattan Borough, President Award
- 1997, Harlem United Community AIDS Center, Life Award
- 1997, State of Michigan, special tribute
- 1997, Community Works, Harlem Women Making a Difference Award
- 1998, Unity Fellowship Church, Bishop Carl Bean Visionary Award
External links
- The Balm in Gilead, Inc., Official Website