About TheBodyPro

Founded in 2002, TheBodyPro exists to inform and support the HIV workforce -- the vast constellation of people working on the front lines of HIV education, prevention, care, and services. Whether you're a physician or a case manager; a registered nurse or a licensed social worker; a medical technician or a therapist; we're here to provide you with up-to-date information, valuable perspectives, and authentic professional voices.

We do this by:

Publishing accurate, responsible reporting and analysis on relevant scientific, clinical, and policy developments in HIV/AIDS and related fields.
Providing a platform for members of the HIV workforce to share insightful stories and perspectives.
Partnering with HIV care providers and professional organizations to strengthen our responses to the HIV epidemic.

TheBodyPro and its sibling site for the broader HIV community, TheBody, are a part of HealthCentral Corporation, a leading digital health platform that empowers patients and caregivers to achieve better health.

Meet Our Team

Myles HelfandExecutive Editor

A career journalist and editor, Myles Helfand joined TheBody in 2001 as a part-time copyeditor. He has since established himself as a leading journalist and content strategist on HIV-related issues, authoring hundreds of articles and editing hundreds more—and accumulating an ever-growing mountain of HIV conference badges along the way.

Juan Michael Porter IISenior Editor

Juan Michael Porter II has been living with HIV since 2015. He serves as a senior editor of TheBody and TheBodyPro―making him the first person openly living with HIV to hold the position―co-host of The Future of HIV Care podcast, a Dorian Award nominator, and the first Black man to serve as a Drama Desk Award nominator in history.

He has written for PBS, SF Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, Christian Science Monitor, NY Observer, TDF Stages, Playbill, American Theatre, Queerty, Positively Aware, and Dance Magazine and served as the managing editor and critic-in-residence of BroadwayWorld Dance. Juan Michael is a fellow of the National Critics Institute at Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and Poynter’s Power of Diverse Voices workshop.

Maria Elena PerezEditor

Maria Elena Perez has had many past lives in the media industry, working at publications like The North Star and Newsweek. She was the host of “America the Voiceless,” a podcast that uncovered the barriers many Americans have to overcome to exercise their right to vote. Maria Elena was also the co-curator of the newsletter Pero Make It Newsy, which highlighted news about women and Latinx issues.

Charles SanchezContributing Editor

Charles Sanchez is an openly gay, openly poz writer/director/actor living in New York City. He has written for WritingRaw.com and HuffPost's Queer Voices. As a performer, musical director, and director, he has worked in venues ranging from Lincoln Center and off-Broadway to dinner theater in Arkansas. His award-winning musical comedy web series, Merce, is about an HIV-positive guy living in New York who isn't sad, sick, or dying.