APMG Health was founded as the AIDS Projects Management Group, by Lou McCallum and Dave Burrows in 2003. Lou and Dave met in the late 1990s through their work managing the Australian Federation of Aids Organisations. Recognizing the challenges facing their own community’s HIV and AIDS crisis, they quickly realized that new global AIDS responses must prioritize marginalized populations or their specific concerns would be left out of policymaking and funding decisions. Predictably, as major national and international investments were made for HIV and AIDS relief, the interests and concerns of those populations experiencing highest risk (people who use drugs, gay men, sex workers, and trans people) were sidelined. 

Lou and Dave envisioned bringing together a network of professionals who shared their years of experience working closely with these marginalized communities. They wanted to build a body of high-quality resources that could be adapted and shared from the international decision-making bodies to rural organizations working to solve the challenges facing their local communities. Over the years, APMG has expanded from its work in the Asia-Pacific region and Eastern Europe to all over the globe. 

In 2016, Danielle Parsons joined APMG as a Managing Director after years of working with Lou and Dave as an implementing partner and consultant. Danielle took over the day-to-day management of APMG, including moving the main APMG office to Washington, DC and incorporating as a Social Benefit Corporation. At the same time, APMG Health set about broadening its horizons to bring the lessons and expertise from the HIV field into other health areas impacting folks most marginalized by society. In the last half decade of change, APMG has not only continued to expand its global reach, but also expanded its expert pool, cultivating a group of the brightest and most passionate experts who share a dedication to equity and justice. APMG continues working on HIV, while also bringing the same spirit of work to tuberculosis, viral hepatitis and other infectious diseases, as well as the other urgent issues that affect health, like gender equity, sexual and productive health rights, mental health, and equitable emergency responses.