Inspired by a true story, LIFE SUPPORT uses a mix of actors and real people from the HIV/AIDS community to tell the story of an HIV-positive Brooklyn woman named Ana (Queen Latifah), who channels her energy and regret over past drug addiction into working for Life Support, an AIDS outreach group. Ana, who contracted the virus by sharing drugs with her husband Slick (Wendell Pierce), displays an admirable though obsessive passion for her job that puts her health at risk, and her stubbornness threatens to drive her already fractured family away. Ana's teenage daughter Kelly (Rachel Nicks) is particularly at odds with Ana; she lives with her grandmother Lucille (Anna Deavere Smith), and isn't interested in moving back in with Ana when Lucille announces she's moving to Virginia. When Kelly's HIV-infected gay friend Amare (Evan Ross) disappears, Ana, looking to connect with her daughter while helping a lost soul, throws herself into searching for him. She embarks on a dangerous but necessary journey, and as she seeks to save one life and heal another, Ana learns a poignant lesson about loving and letting go.

About the speaker: Dr. Nina Harawa is an Assistant Professor at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) in the Department of Research.  She completed both her Master’s of Public Health and her PhD in Epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health.  Dr. Harawa has years of public health experience in the areas of HIV/AIDS and incarcerated health, having worked as an Epidemiologist for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.  Dr. Harawa has run Center’s for Disease Control-funded studies examining HIV infection, testing, and risk behaviors in variety of populations.  These include female sex workers, men who have sex with men, low-income/SRO hotel residents, sexually transmitted disease clinic patients, and jail inmates. 

She is currently the Principal Investigator for a Universitywide AIDS Research Program-funded study to develop and implement a new HIV prevention intervention for African American men who have sex with both men and women.  In addition, she is funded by the Institute for Community Health Research to examine sexual risk behaviors and condom distribution strategies for high-risk male inmates.

Dr. Harawa actively collaborates with local community based organizations to conduct research and disseminate study findings.  She is a frequently called upon presenter to discuss the scope of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Los Angeles and has been involved in various HIV community planning efforts including the HIV/AIDS Second District Coalition, the Office of AIDS Programs and Policies’ Black Leader’s Forum, and the California African American AIDS Working Group.  She has also appeared in three educational videos on HIV/AIDS.