How we got here...

In the mid 1980's, US Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Terrance G. Brennan was working on an inpatient psychiatric unit at Naval Hospital Great Lakes.  A young man was admitted with AIDS Related Complex for evaluation of depression.  Lack of available information on HIV/AIDS contributed to fears and uncertainty about transmission and life expectancy.   In the late 1980's, Brennan worked as the first lay director of Campus Ministry at Parks College of Saint Louis University and began graduate studies in theology and public health.  Both in studies and work, he repeatedly encountered this emerging illness and the impact on public health and the faith community.  Graduating with a Master of Public Health degree, Brennan returned to Milwaukee with his family in 1991, reestablishing old friendships and beginning work in health professions education at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

In late 1991, basketball great Magic Johnson announced his HIV+ status.  Shortly thereafter, a college friend of Brennan's - Jim - called and shared that he, too, had been diagnosed with HIV.  Brennan began volunteering with Milwaukee AIDS Project and was trained as a community educator.  For the next nine years he would serve as a volunteer educator for what became the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, developing and presenting "Advanced AIDS Education" for staff, volunteers, schools, and community groups throughout the state.

In 1992, a gathering was held at Marquette University, inviting those who had entered or worked closely with the Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) to an "Ignatian Family Reunion".   This was a time of great favor, renewal of friendships, and the beginnings of a community that would experience together the Spiritual Exercises and join with the Jesuits in contemplation and service.  Over the past sixteen years, this group, now known as the Ignatian Associates, has engaged in both local and international service efforts.

Also in 1992, as Brennan's experience and interest in HIV education became known, he was asked to lead Wisconsin's site of the federally funded Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center (MATEC).  This program would reach out to physicians, dentists, nurses, and other health professionals to familiarize them with HIV/AIDS and build the capacity of providers to deal with this epidemic.  Brennan would lead this initiative for the next seven years, serving also as liaison to the HIV Services Consortium, director of the public HIV/AIDS clinic, and consultant to Ryan White and policy workgroups.

In 1995, Brennan was asked to provide a volunteer training at the Institute for Latin American Concerns in Santiago, Dominican Republic.  In 1996, he was contacted by the Milwaukee International Health Training Center and asked to design and deliver a program for Tanzanian nationals visiting Milwaukee.  Shortly thereafter, he was contacted by a nurse midwife from Kenya, Sr. Genovefa Maashao, SSJ, and arranged a training through Marquette University, which issued her a Certificate in HIV Nursing in 1997.  At the time of Sr. Gen's graduation, her cousin, Bishop Augustine Shao of Zanzibar, said to Brennan: "Terry, come to Africa."

In 1998, Brennan was contacted by Fr. Angelo "DAG" D'Agostino, SJ, MD, founder of Nyumbani orphanage in Kenya.  After a year of discussions, Brennan left the security of his academic and professional positions to travel to Kenya and explore the potential of opening a training site for pediatric HIV/AIDS.  While there, he visited Sr. Genovefa in Voi, and traveled to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, to follow up with his former students.

Returning home in December of 1999, Brennan faced the realization that while the need and potential for the Kenyan training site was great, there was no funding available.  Faced with the illness of a son, and impending financial crisis, he took a position with a team in the United Arab Emirates in their attempt to modernize and update the military health system.  During this time he wrote up his observations from his trip to Kenya and Tanzania, and traveled to the International AIDS Conference in Durban to present his findings.

Brennan was subsequently hired as Vice President/Chief Program Officer for the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC), writing evaluation of the "Secure the Future" AIDS initiative for Southern Africa, designing the Global AIDS Learning and Evaluation Network, and made presentations in the US, Uganda, Egypt, Switzerland, Romania, and elsewhere.  In 2001, Brennan left the Chicago-based IAPAC, convinced that an organization focused on integrity and cooperation could be started in Milwaukee.

In 2001, Global Partnerships for Excellence in Education, Research, and Service was formed.  Letters of support were received from around the world, and we began with great hopes of international cooperation.

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