“Grant
Colfax will lead the my Administration’s continued progress in
providing care and treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS,” said
President Obama. “Grant’s expertise will be key as we continue to
face serious challenges and take bold steps to meet them. I look
forward to his leadership in the months and years to come."
ONAP
coordinates with the National Security Council and the Office of the
Global AIDS Coordinator, and works with international bodies to ensure
that America’s response to the global pandemic is fully integrated with
other prevention, care, and treatment efforts around the world. Through
the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
initiative, the U.S. has made enormous progress in
responding to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, working with countries
heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS to help expand access to treatment, care,
and prevention.
Grant
Colfax, MD, was most recently Director of the HIV Prevention Section in
the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Dr. Colfax is a
graduate of Harvard Medical
School and completed his medical residency at the University of
California, San Francisco. His
work focuses on collaborating with community
stakeholders to implement sustainable, evidence-based HIV prevention and
treatment interventions and policies in public health settings and
measuring their effectiveness. Under his leadership,
San Francisco greatly expanded HIV testing and treatment support
efforts. Until assuming his ONAP role, Dr. Colfax was also an NIH- and
CDC supported scientist studying HIV testing strategies, clinical trials
of medications to treat substance dependence, and
biomedical HIV prevention interventions. Dr. Colfax was a practicing
clinician at the Positive Health Program, San Francisco’s premier public
HIV clinic.