Liza Solomon
My political activism started with picketing our high schoolinprotestoftheirsupportforMississippistate bonds (don’t ask me to explain). I moved to Massachusetts after college where I joined an underground women’s collective to assist women in obtaining legal abortions in New York. After Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion in all states I served as
Director of Counseling at a family planning and abortion clinic. I decided to attend Physician Assistant school to ensure that “the skills needed for women’s healthcare were available and in the hands of feminists” (remember “Our bodes Our selves”?). I practiced as a PA for several years but realized that public health offered more scope to make changes so I got a Masters and Doctorate in Public Health. I was also a member of a Baltimore women’s anti-war, anti-racism group. We participated in the womens’ peace encampment in Seneca NY, and civil disobedience actions to protest US involvement in Central America.
After graduation I spent several years in the epidemiology faculty at Johns Hopkins running studies focused on HIV and injection drug users. This was the height of the US AIDS epidemic. I chaired a volunteer advocacy group to lobby the Maryland legislature for more informed and less discrimatory laws affecting people living with HIV/AIDS. The incoming governor appointed me Director of the Maryland AIDS Administration, a position I held for almost 10 years, after which I continued my work in HIV as a consultant. I volunteered with our local animal shelter and at the Therapeutic Riding Center, both in Maryland and now in Santa Fe. In 2019 my wife and I (and our dog Sammy) moved to Santa Fe, which we love. I have found my way to Indivisible, and am so glad to meet all the groups’ incredible committed women.
