I am pleased to announce the selection of Geri R. Donenberg, PhD, as NIH Associate Director for AIDS Research and Director of the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR), part of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives in the NIH Office of the Director. She will join NIH this October to lead the advancement and coordination of HIV/AIDS research at NIH, working closely with NIH Institutes and Centers.

Dr. Donenberg brings more than 25 years of HIV/AIDS research experience with a focus on understanding factors influencing HIV transmission and substance use among youth and designing specially targeted interventions to prevent HIV. Her studies have addressed each stage of the HIV cascade and prioritized the inclusion of diverse HIV-affected populations such as minority adolescents and young adults living in resource-constrained settings in the United States, Africa, China, and Indonesia; Black adolescent girls and young women; young men who have sex with men and people who inject drugs.

Dr. Donenberg’s research has spanned the translational spectrum, by illuminating HIV transmission dynamics, conducting prevention and treatment efficacy and effectiveness trials, and testing implementation strategies in complex low-resource settings with youth, adults, and families, nationally and internationally. Over the past 10 years, her research has emphasized implementation science to elucidate the determinants, processes, and strategies that will optimize intervention delivery and to conduct hybrid trials to improve both implementation outcomes and clinical effectiveness.

A clinical psychologist, Dr. Donenberg joins NIH from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) where she is a professor of medicine, psychology, and epidemiology and biostatistics, and Chair of Scholarly Activities in the Department of Medicine. She is the founding director of the Center for Dissemination and Implementation Science in Health Disparities, and director of the Healthy Youths Program at UIC. She earned her BA in psychology and political science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and her MA and PhD in clinical psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She completed her psychology internship at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, and following her time at UCLA, Dr. Donenberg was selected as a Fulbright Scholar in Cape Town, South Africa. Dr. Donenberg has been an active NIH grant reviewer and chair for NIH study sections and has authored more than 170 publications.

Dr. Donenberg has led dozens of research projects, including NIH-supported studies. She was among the first to establish the relationship between adolescent mental health and HIV acquisition and to design and implement HIV prevention interventions for youth with mental health distress. She actively trains and mentors students and junior faculty including supervising psychology practicum students, psychology interns, and postdoctoral fellows in their clinical work and research with children, youth, and families.

Dr. Donenberg has been a mentor for 24 NIH-funded career development awards, actively working with marginalized populations, including individuals living with HIV and racial/ethnic and sexual minorities.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Donenberg. I want to thank Bill Kapogiannis, MD, for his service as OAR Acting Director from March 2023 to December 2023, and Diana Finzi, PhD, for her service from December 2023 until Dr. Donenberg starts in October 2024.

Monica M. Bertagnolli, M.D.
Director, NIH

This announcement was published by the National Institutes of Health on September 5, 2024.