Judith Wasserheit

Judith N. Wasserheit, MD, MPH, is Professor Emerita of Global Health and Medicine at the University of Washington, where she played a central role in launching the Department of Global Health and served as Chair 2014-2022. Dr. Wasserheit also co-directed the UW Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness. She was the Founding Chief of the U.S. National Institute of Health’s (NIH’s) Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Research Branch; Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) STD/HIV Prevention Program, and Director of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. She is a member of the US National Academy of Medicine, the American Epidemiological Society, and the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars and was a London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Heath Clark Endowed Lecturer. Dr. Wasserheit earned her MD from Harvard University, her MPH from Johns Hopkins University, and her BA from Princeton University.

Dr. Wasserheit has worked extensively at the interface of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV clinical-epidemiological research, programs and policy in the U.S. and globally. She has worked in Bangladesh, China, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Peru, Thailand and Zambia. Dr. Wasserheit has broad experience working with bilateral and multilateral agencies, governments, and colleagues on STI, HIV and pandemic disease research, policy and programmatic issues. Her development of the concept of epidemiological synergy between HIV infection and other sexually transmitted infections has had a major influence on HIV prevention policy and programs worldwide. Her current interests include the design, conduct and translation of STI, HIV and pandemic disease research into high impact, large-scale, evidence-based policies, and programs and the use of implementation science in these and other global health programs.