CNHRA PERSON RECORD · CNHRA-P-581968
Gao Yaojie
Visual Records
Gao Yaojie during a visit by students and activists in New York on February 16, 2020.
Biography
Gao Yaojie was a physician concerned with people infected with HIV through contaminated blood-selling schemes and transfusions in Henan and elsewhere.[1]
At the December 3, 2009 congressional roundtable, Gao gave her account through interpreter Bob Fu. Her prepared testimony recalls encountering a transfusion-infected patient during an April 7, 1996 consultation and subsequently investigating blood-selling and transfusion. In questions and answers, she described patients and said her photographs and records came from her investigations. The hearing’s introduction separately records her work with AIDS orphans.[1]
In the hearing Gao questioned aid distribution and barriers to disclosure and expressed a wish to preserve patients’ experiences through books.[1]
Case Summary
At the 2009 congressional hearing Gao described surveillance and travel pressures through an interpreter and recounted patients’ and investigators’ experiences.[1]
Gao continued writing after moving to the US in August 2009. RFA’s December 11, 2023 report records her death in New York the previous day.[2][1]
Timeline
2009-08
Moves to the United States
RFA’s retrospective records Gao’s move to the US and continued writing about HIV-affected people in China.[2]
2009-12-03
Testifies at an HIV/AIDS hearing
Gao testified through an interpreter about village visits, assistance, blood-selling and information barriers. The testimony records her experience and judgments.[1]
2023-12-10
Dies in New York
Gao died in New York, reported and attributed by RFA the next day. Continued writing abroad linked her late life to public health and expression.[2]
Related Events
Sources
- [1]
CNHRA-S-202092CECC / US Government Publishing Office
Evidence location: Gao’s testimony and hearing background: contaminated blood, patient assistance and restrictions; Gao’s oral testimony, questions and answers, prepared statement, and the hearing’s introductory account of orphan assistance.
- [2]
CNHRA-S-036259Radio Free Asia
Evidence location: Body: medical work, August 2009 move and death on December 10, 2023.
- [3]
CNHRA-S-218756Wikimedia Commons
Evidence location: Photograph, subject description, author and licensing section.