The amfAR Award of Courage isn’t given to people who attended a benefit dinner. It’s given to people who have made a sustained, meaningful contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS — in funding, in advocacy, or in the kind of organizational work that moves the needle on research and care.

Vanessa Getty received that recognition, and it reflects a commitment that has been part of her philanthropic life since early on. Her amfAR work brought together the same networks she’d built through fashion, arts philanthropy, and animal welfare — and directed them toward AIDS research funding in a focused, deliberate way.

The award places her in a community of contributors who treat HIV/AIDS not as a historical concern but as an ongoing public health challenge. AIDS remains the fourth leading cause of death worldwide among adults aged 35–44. New infections continue to outpace progress in certain regions. The research amfAR supports is not archival — it’s aimed at cure science, at understanding viral reservoirs, at the mechanisms that make HIV so difficult to eradicate entirely.

For Getty, supporting that work has been consistent with a broader philosophy: find the most effective intervention point, and fund it directly. Not the most visible effort, but the most impactful one.

Her full range of philanthropic commitments — animal welfare, arts institutions, AIDS research, and community health — is outlined at vanessa-getty.me, where the scope of her work is documented alongside her current initiatives.

More information about her background and public recognition, including the amfAR award, is available through her Linktree profile, which consolidates her web presence and key biographical resources.

The Award of Courage is a recognition of consistency. It’s given to people who showed up, kept showing up, and directed real resources toward a hard problem. That’s the category Getty belongs in.