Deborah L. Birx

Deborah Birx
United States Global AIDS Coordinator
Assumed office
April 4, 2014
President Barack Obama
Donald Trump
Preceded by Eric Goosby
Personal details
Alma mater Houghton College
Pennsylvania State University, Hershey

Deborah L. Birx is an American physician and diplomat who currently serves as Ambassador-at-Large and as United States Global AIDS Coordinator. She was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate. She was sworn in April 4, 2014.[1] In this role she is responsible for PEPFAR's US$6. 6 billion program in 65 countries supporting HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs.[2]

Early life and education

Birx is the daughter of Dr. Donald and Adele Sparks Birx.[3] Birx majored in chemistry at Houghton College in 1976 and then earned her medical degree from the Hershey School of Medicine at Pennsylvania State University. In 1980 she began in internal medicine and basic and clinical immunology at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health.

Career

Birx served as a physician in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of colonel[4] before she retired from military service. She started her career with the Department of Defense (DoD) as a clinician in immunology, focusing on HIV/AIDS vaccine research. She then served as an Assistant Chief of the Hospital Immunology Service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center from 1985 to 1989. In 1996, she became the Director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (USMHRP) at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, a role she held until 2005. [5]

From 2005-2014, Ambassador Birx served as the Director of CDC's Division of Global HIV/AIDS (DGHA), which is part of the agency’s Center for Global Health.[6]

In her role as ambassador she is leading the organization to meet the HIV prevention and treatment targets set by President Obama in 2015 and achieving the goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.[7] She says that PEPFAR has cut pediatric HIV infection rates by 50 percent in several African countries. [8]

Personal

Birx has two adult daughters, Devynn Birx-Raybuck and Danielle Birx-Raybuck.

References

  1. ↑ Dr. Deborah Birx Sworn-In as New U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief, April 4, 2014
  2. ↑ Six Prominent Women Scientists Making a Difference in the AIDS Fight AIVI Report, Volume 19, 2015
  3. ↑ Remarks by Secretary of State John Kerry U.S. Department of State, April 25, 2014
  4. ↑ PN194 — Army Congressional Record, June 27, 1997
  5. ↑ Deborah L. Birx, M.D. U.S. Department of State, accessed May 20, 2016
  6. ↑ Deborah L. Birx, MD Ambassador at Large Designate and Coordinator Designate, Department of State, United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally U.S. Senate, March 6, 2014
  7. ↑ Harnessing the Data Revolution for an AIDS-Free Generation The Huffington Post, April 14, 2016
  8. ↑ U.S. official calls for focus on gender equality as means to end AIDS The Daily Bruin, February 4, 2016
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Eric Goosby		 United States Global AIDS Coordinator
2014–present		 Incumbent
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