Dr. Gordon Crofoot is a highly respected Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease specialist with over 40 years of experience in HIV/AIDS care, research, and advocacy. Based in Houston, Texas, he has dedicated his career to advancing healthcare access and treatment for the general LGBTQIA+ & marginalized communities.

Dr. Gordon E. Crofoot Jr. spent his formative years in Glenview, a suburb north of Chicago, Illinois.

Growing up in this close-knit community, he developed a strong sense of compassion and a desire to help others, qualities that would later define his medical career.

A graduate of Michigan State University, Dr. Crofoot earned his medical degree from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and completed his Internal Medicine residency at Baylor College of Medicine. In 1998, he became Medical Director at the Montrose Clinic (now Legacy Community Health Services), where he played a pivotal role in developing the Ryan White Title 1 HIV treatment program for uninsured patients and expanding the Next Step program for newly diagnosed individuals.

1977 June I was Hired by Kelsey Seybold Clinic as an Internist to possibly replace Dr. Mavis Kelsey when he retired. He had no plans to retire!

June 1986 I went to the 2nd International AIDS Conference in Paris, France. I arrived just as the meetings were starting. It was so interesting, I did not even have much time to eat or change money. I had just enough Money to get a subway after midnight back to my hotel I waited for a train but the lights were turned off and gates locked. Subway closes at 1:00am. I set off an alarm and the police let me out muttering, “stupid American”. But that first major conference was amazing.

Ted Koppel, the iconic host of Nightline News, reached over 25 million Americans five nights a week. On June 5, 1987, he hosted a historic three-hour National Town Hall On AIDS—the first major U.S. news broadcast to tackle the crisis head-on.

At a time when no FDA-approved treatments existed, desperation pushed many to seek hope beyond U.S. borders. As a nationally recognized AIDS specialist, I was invited to discuss the harsh reality of the epidemic and the forbidden treatments emerging overseas—drugs that offered hope but remained illegal in America. It was a pivotal moment when the world could no longer turn away.

May 11th 1989. Dr. Luc Montagnier, the man who discovered the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV, we invited him to come to Houston and inaugurate the first Annual Houston Conference on AIDS in America. Dr. Montagnier, to the surprise of many, was aware of Houston’s AIDS problems and was concerned about them. I spoke about an update on HIV care and Dr Montagnier spoke about discovering the virus and developing a blood test for it. Luc Montagnier was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008.

I have had the opportunity to attend several meetings & dinners with Magic Johnson. We are both Michigan State University graduates. In November 1991, Magic Johnson courageously announced that he was HIV positive when his wife was just seven weeks pregnant. Both remain negative. Magic Johnson has dedicated a significant amount of time to meeting with and educating the Black community, including multiple visits to Houston. I, too, have been actively involved in providing information and support to the Black community. It is crucial to continue raising awareness and 1998 to 2002 offering assistance, especially on important health issues such as HIV/AIDS.

Beyond clinical care, Dr. Crofoot has been a leader in global health initiatives. In 2006, he founded Brazos Abiertos (Fundación BAI AC) in Yucatán, Mexico, establishing the first HIV testing and education programs in Mayan villages and improving HIV care access in the region. His research contributions are extensive, serving as Principal Investigator for over 200 clinical trials and publishing more than 150 articles in medical journals.