John Shouse

Peer Navigator

he/him

John is one of the wellness center’s Peer Navigators. He has been living with HIV since the late 80s and, after a successful career in finance, he has dedicated his life to helping those newly diagnosed navigate their next steps. He stresses to all of his patients that, with proper medication adherence, HIV is no longer a death sentence, and those living with it can lead fulfilled and happy lives like he has. He also councils many of our patients on budgeting and managing debt. He was born and raised in Southern Illinois and moved to Manhattan following college, where he remained for 30 years. In the early 80s, when people first began to die of the then-unknown virus, AIDS, John served on the board of the first program created to help those affected at St. Peters Lutheran church, later becoming Chairman of the Board of the Momentum Project After 9/11, he built a mountain home in Pennsylvania where he lived for nine years. He has lived in Summerville for the last eleven and has been a part of the Ryan White Wellness Center team for a little over a year. If you’re looking, you might find John curled up with a good book or creating abstract acrylic art.