HIVMA Elects New Board of Director Members; Announces New Chair

New Leadership Affirms Commitment to Working to End the HIV Epidemic

The HIV Medicine Association is pleased to announce the election of seven members to its Board of Directors and to name Melanie Thompson as its new Chair following IDWeek. HIVMA is dedicated to promoting quality HIV care and advocating for policies that ensure a comprehensive and humane response to the global AIDS pandemic.

“The new members will bring a diversity of experience and perspectives to the Board,” said Melanie Thompson, MD, founder and principal investigator of the AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta and the incoming Board Chair. “To a person they are passionate about improving HIV prevention and care delivery and committed to advancing the science and advocacy that will get us closer to ending the HIV epidemic. I look forward to working with them.”

The seven elected HIVMA Board members are:

• Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH – HIVMA Board of Director, Deputy Commissioner of the Division of Disease Control for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Dr. Daskalakis directs the public health laboratory and all infectious disease control programs for New York City, including HIV, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections, vaccine-preventable diseases and general communicable diseases. Dr. Daskalakis also is an associate professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine
• Judith Feinberg - HIVMA Vice Chair, Professor of Medicine/Infectious Diseases & Professor of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, West Virginia University and Chair, Pilot Projects Core, West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Dr. Feinberg conducts clinical research with a current focus on HIV prevention; expanding harm reduction programs; and mentorship of junior investigators.
• Marwan S. Haddad, MD, MPH – HIVMA Board of Director, Medical Director for the Center for Key Populations Community Health Center Inc. in New Haven, Conn., Dr. Haddad focuses on populations at highest risk of acquiring or living with HIV. Dr. Haddad also is a senior researcher at the Weitzman Institute and assistant clinical professor of family medicine at Quinnipiac University’s Frank H. Netter School of Medicine.
• Colleen F. Kelley, MD, MPH – HIVMA Board of Director, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases, Atlanta, Dr. Kelley is also an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Rollins School of Public Health. She conducts research to understand HIV transmission and optimizing the utility and efficacy of biomedical HIV prevention interventions.
• Lynsay MacLaren, MPH, MPAS, PA-C – HIVMA Board of Director, Staff and research clinician at Whitman-Walker Health, Washington, D.C. In addition to providing primary HIV care at large, urban Federally Qualified Community Health Center, Lynsay MacLaren has been a part of numerous Aids Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) studies that aim to find a cure for HIV and improve the lives of people living with the disease.
• Igho Ofotokun, MD, FIDSA – Representative to the IDSA Board of Directors, Professor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Ofotokun also is a Professor of Behavioral Science and Health Education, Rollin School of Public Health, Emory University and a Staff Physician with Grady Healthcare System in Atlanta. His research focus is on antiretroviral clinical pharmacology and long-term complications of HIV/AIDS and he serves as the Vice Chair of the ACTG Antiretroviral Therapy Strategies Subcommittee.
• Alice C. Thornton, MD, FIDSA – HIVMA Board of Director, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Dr. Thornton also is the medical director for the University of Kentucky Health Care Bluegrass Care Clinic, a multi-disciplinary clinic funded by the Ryan White Program, and a professor of medicine for the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and Department of Epidemiology at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health.

The HIVMA Board of Directors Executive Committee following IDWeek will include Chair Melanie Thompson, MD, founder and principal investigator of the AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta (ARCA); Chair-Elect W. David Hardy, MD, senior director of Evidence-Based Practices at Whitman-Walker Taylor Medical Center; Vice Chair Judith Feinberg, MD, FIDSA, professor of medicine and infectious diseases and professor of behavioral medicine and psychiatry at West Virginia University; and Immediate Past Chair Wendy Armstrong, MD, FIDSA, professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta. Igho Ofotokun, MD, MSc, FIDSA, professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, will represent HIVMA on the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)’s Board of Directors.

The following members will continue their service on the HIVMA Board: - Michelle S. Cespedes, MD, MS, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York - Michelle Collins-Ogle, MD, (Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Liaison), Warren-Vance Community Health Center, Inc., Henderson, N.C. - Donna Futterman, MD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine Adolescent AIDS Program at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, N.Y. - James M. Sosman, MD, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wis. - William Towner, MD, FIDSA, Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles - Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, FIDSA, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston - Ira B. Wilson, MD, MSc, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, R.I.

The HIV Medicine Association is the professional home for nearly 5,000 physicians, scientists, and other health care professionals dedicated to the field of HIV/AIDS. Nested within the Infectious Diseases Society of America, HIVMA promotes quality in HIV care and advocates policies that ensure a comprehensive and humane response to the AIDS pandemic informed by science and social justice. See more at: http://www.hivma.org.