In the late 1970s, HIV Program Director Dr. Lawrence Goldyn taught Political Science at Occidental College in Los Angeles where a student named Barak Obama took his course in European politics. They became friends and Dr. Goldyn served as an informal advisor to the future president. In 2008, a national publication dedicated to LGBT issues, The Advocate, interviewed the then president-elect and asked him how he had developed his open attitude toward sexual minorities. Mr. Obama first cited his mother, and then Dr. Goldyn, as the two people who helped him develop his non-judgmental position. In June of 2014, Dr. Goldyn visited the president at the Oval Office, where Mr. Obama lauded Dr. Goldyn as one of the unsung heroes of the movement for civil rights for sexual minorities.
Dr. Goldyn’s career in medicine has spanned from research to teaching, from private practice to community clinics. Dr. Goldyn dedicated many years to the education of Physician Assistants and Resident Physicians as a Proctor at Stanford University Physician Assistant Program, an Attending Physician at California Pacific Medical Center, Outpatient Resident Clinic, and Director of the HIV Resident’s Clinic. He has served on many HIV Advisory Committees as well as Quality Assurance Committees. Dr. Goldyn currently works at two Federally Qualified Health Clinics in Mendocino County including Mendocino Coast Clinics and Mendocino Community Health Clinic. He is an integral part of our Ryan White care team.