Judith N. Wasserheit, MD, MPH

Judith N. Wasserheit, MD, MPH has worked extensively at the interface of STI and HIV clinical-epidemiological research, programs, and policy in the U.S. and globally. Currently the Chair and Professor of Global Health, Professor of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Washington, she was the founding chief of the US NIH's STD Research Branch; Director of the US CDC's STD Prevention Program, and Director of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, the largest global clinical trials platform evaluating preventive HIV vaccines. Her research has included one of the first laparoscopic studies of pelvic inflammatory disease etiology conducted in the US, the first population-based study of the prevalence and etiologic spectrum of STDs among rural women in the Indian Subcontinent, and research on the interrelationships between STDs and contraceptive practices in other parts of the developing world, including Indonesia and Egypt. She has also worked in Columbia, Thailand, and Zambia. Her development of the concept of epidemiological synergy between HIV infection and other STDs has had a major influence on HIV prevention policy and programs around the world.

Dr. Wasserheit has extensive experience working successfully with national and international agencies, governments, and colleagues on STD and HIV research, policy and programmatic issues. She has led or served on numerous World Health Organization and UNAIDS committees and advisory groups. Her many honors include the US DHHS Presidential Meritorious Rank Award, the Infectious Diseases Society of America's Edward E. Kass Award, and the American Social Health Association's Presidential Award. In 2006, she was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science; in 2007, she was selected as a Paul Rogers Society Global Health Research Ambassador; and in 2009, she was honored as the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Heath Clark Endowed Lecturer. In 2012, she assumed the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health.