Bolan, Robert

Biography

Robert K. Bolan was born in Detroit, Michigan and grew up in the greater Detroit area. He graduated from the University of Detroit in 1964 and then went on to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, for medical school. He received his M.D. in 1968. He was briefly married during medical school (2.5 years) and has a son. He started his residency in Madison, Wisconsin (1972/1973) [where he met his first lover and came out to himself]. There was an active gay network in Madison. After a short break from medicine he completed his residency (1975/1976) in Milwaukee. While in Milwaukee he became aware of the "STD problem with gay men" and began volunteering at a gay VD clinic. This was the beginning of the gay medical movement and he enjoyed working with and serving his peers. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) had become concerned about the high and growing rates of Syphilis and Hepatitis B within the gay male community and, in a rare move, partnered with these community clinics. This started Bolan's association with the CDC. Bolan joined the National Coalition of Gay Sexually Transmitted Disease Services (NCGSTD) after being introduced to the group by its chairperson Mark Behar. The NCGSTD issued the first "safe sex" pamphlet, Guidelines and Recommendations for Healthy Gay Sexual Activity . Started in 1979, it was published in 1981, just as physicians were becoming aware of the illnesses that would later be called AIDS.

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