It was actually the experience of getting tested for HIV over two decades ago that first led Pedro Coronado to his career in community health work.
“I think I was 19 years old, after a breakup,” Coronado recalls. “A friend of mine referred me [to a local clinic] and he’s like, ‘Oh, there’s a place in downtown Brownsville, you can get tested there and you can get condoms.’ But when I went to go get tested, they had a sign that they were hiring for a youth advocate, to work with youth and try to get them to get tested and all of that good stuff.”
“So I got tested — and this was 20
