BY AAGD STAFF
May 19, 2020
Ulysses W. Burley III was in graduate/medical school when fellow doctors would invite him to play golf as a networking opportunity. Unfamiliar with the game, Dr. Burley says he would always decline, “Because, I didn’t know how to play and didn’t have a set of clubs.”
Realizing that he was missing out on key networking opportunities, the medical student asked his godfather – who played golf – for a set of clubs for Christmas. “He happily obliged and threw in lessons with a PGA certified trainer as well, “recalls 37-year-old Dr. Burley. That was in 2006 and the Houston (TX) native has been playing as often as he possibly can. He especially enjoyed participating in the GRIP Outreach for Youth Golf Open Fundraiser in 2019 at Cogg Hill, where all proceeds go toward underserved fatherless youth in Metro Chicago.
Hut Smith, Owner of Hut Smith Golf, LLC. taught Dr. Burley the fundamentals of golf and gave him a strong foundation of skills to build on.
“Consistency is my biggest challenge with the game,” says Dr. Burley. “I can hit the best shot of my life in one instance, and in the next, I can miss the entire ball! ” A frequent traveler, Dr. Burley is often on the road. “I live in Chicago (IL) where the weather isn’t conducive for playing golf 7-9 months out of the year, so I don’t get to tee up as often as I would like.”
Dr. Ulysses Burley III
“Keeping my head down and my bottom down through my swing is helping me to play better. I have a tendency to lift out of my stance before I even make contact with the ball which causes me to miss-hit the ball or miss it entirely.”
Dr. Burley is the founder of UBtheCURE LLC, a proprietary consulting company on the intersection of Faith, Health, and Human Rights. He studied biology and Spanish at Morehouse College and medicine and public health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (FSM) where he went on to train in Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Ulysses then served as Program Director for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Strategy on HIV/AIDS, as well as director of HIV/AIDS Programs at Heights Pharmacy.
Ulysses W. Burley III, Facebook|@ubthecure, Twitter|@ulyssesburley, Instagram|@ubthecure, Website|www.ubthecure.com
Although his primary training is in medicine and public health, Ulysses is dedicated to a vocation of social justice advocacy through faith and community-based initiatives. His primary work has been in the area of HIV and AIDS awareness, advocacy and capacity building, but also includes mass incarceration, LGBTQIA+, gender and racial justice, food security, and peace in the Middle East. He has been a guest at both the White House and United Nations for consultations on the intersections of faith and HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health rights, racial justice, and global drug reform.
Dr. Ulysses Burley III
Ulysses formerly served as a member of the United States Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) appointed by the Obama Administration and made international headlines when he and 5 other members of PACHA resigned under the Trump Administration. Ulysses has also been recognized by the National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF) as a top 40 under 40 Minority Health Leader for his work in faith and HIV in communities of color and has since been named to the NMQF Advisory Board.
Ulysses previously served on the executive committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and continues to serve on the WCC Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA) Access to HIV/AIDS Treatment Working Group. He was the chair of the Global Organizing Committee for faith events at the International AIDS Conference in 2016 and 2018. Ulysses is the recipient of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) Public Service Award for 2018 and was recently inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College.
Ulysses is a speaker at Great Black Speakers Bureau, and an award-winning columnist with published writings in medical science, advocacy, and social commentary. When Ulysses is not working or traveling, he serves as a Life On Life mentor for fatherless teens in Chicago with the GRIP Outreach for Youth Program, where he is a former member of their Board of Directors.
