Serrano worked for the Narcotics Bureau of the Brooklyn District Attorney, the Victim's Services Agency, and the State Division of Criminal Justice Services. She was Vice-President of the Hispanic AIDS Forum, secretary of the Latino Commission on AIDS, and a member of the Health and Human Services HIV Planning Council of New York. The government of Australia hired her as a consultant for their AIDS prevention programs. Over her career, she presented many papers in national and international HIV and AIDS conferences. She was quoted, "They weren't organized the way gays were, nobody wanted to deal with them." She worked to expand outreach and educational programs for HIV/AIDS infected drug users, prostitutes, and Parolee Aftercare Relapse Prevention support groups. She assembled bleach kits to decontaminate syringes and distribute them, along with condoms, to IV drug users. She started setting up information tables in
Williamsburg and
Bushwick in Brooklyn, New York,
East Harlem in Manhattan, and
Hunts Point/
Mott Haven in South Bronx. It was the first needle exchange in the United States. In 1985, the Department of Health (DOH) under City Health Commissioner
Dr. David J. Sencer had tried to start an exchange, but the State didn't support the initiative. Serrano's announcement forced the issue and her pressure led to pilot needle-exchange program by the DOH. In 1990, after the election of
Mayor David N. Dinkins, the city stopped the program but ADAPT carried on without support from lawmakers. Later in 1988, she brought in over $2.5 million for its programs. ADAPT also became involved in federally, state, and city-funded research projects; it was the first community-based program to be funded by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct an
epidemiological research study on HIV/AIDS infection among
crack cocaine users. == Death and legacy ==