Judith S. Currier, MD, MSc Appointed Executive Vice Chair for Research | Raphael J. Landovitz, MD Appointed Interim Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases

The department of medicine (DoM) is pleased to announce that Judith S. Currier, MD, MSc has been appointed as executive vice chair for research. Dr. Currier is a professor of medicine, served as the chief of the division of infectious diseases since 2010, co-director of the UCLA - Charles Drew University (CDU) Center for AIDS Research and the Sue and Michael Steinberg Chair in Global AIDS Research in the Department of Medicine at UCLA. She is chair of the NIH sponsored AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and the principal investigator of the Leadership Operations Center (LOC) for the ACTG based at UCLA. She also serves as the contact principal investigator of the UCLA AIDS Prevention and Treatment Clinical Trials Unit with sites in Los Angeles, Brazil, and Argentina.

In this new role, Dr. Currier will implement department priorities in scientific discovery and research career development at UCLA, its affiliated hospitals and research institutes. She will work collaboratively with DoM leadership to develop and oversee research programs, support infrastructure, compliance with relevant research regulations, research training, and research faculty recruitment and retention.

Dr. Currier is a world-renowned researcher with over twenty-five years of experience in the design, implementation, conduct and analysis of clinical trials to optimize antiretroviral treatment and management of HIV infection and related complications. In 2022, she led the renewal of the UCLA-CDU Center for AIDS Research Center P30 award with Jerry Zack, PhD and LaShonda Spencer, MD. She remains active in research examining the mechanisms of cardiovascular disease in people with HIV. Her scientific contributions and advocacy have touched the lives of millions of people around the world who are living with HIV. Over the past three years she led efforts to launch clinical trials for therapeutics for both COVID-19 and Mpox harnessing the expertise of the ACTG network. Throughout her career she has been committed to mentoring physician scientists. She served as the PI of an NIMH T32 Training Grant, Global AIDS Prevention Award from 2018-2022 and was awarded the inaugural Alan Fogelman Mentorship Award in 2021.  She was elected to the Association of American Physicians in 2022 and has published over 300 papers in high-impact factor journals that include the New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, and other major infectious diseases journals.

Dr. Currier completed her medical degree at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, residency and fellowship training at Beth Israel Hospital, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Harvard School of Public Health.


The department of medicine is also pleased to announce that Raphael J. Landovitz, MD has been appointed as interim chief of the division of infectious diseases at UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Landovitz joined UCLA Health in 2006 after training at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital. He is a professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases and director of the UCLA Center for Clinical AIDS Research & Education. He is also co-director of the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Intervention P30.

He is an infectious disease and HIV clinician with both a clinical and research interest in HIV and STI prevention, particularly the use of chemoprophylaxis as part of HIV and STI prevention - PrEP, PEP, and microbicides. He works in the NIH/Division of AIDS-funded ACTG, HPTN and ATN clinical trials networks.

He recently completed a term as chair of the ACTG Antiretroviral Strategies Scientific Committee, is the principal investigator of two multisite PrEP demonstration projects in Los Angeles County, and led the NIH-funded clinical trials that supported the 2021 FDA approval of long-acting injectable cabotegravir for HIV PrEP. He was awarded the John Carey Young Investigator Award by the ACTG in June 2010, and the HIV Medicine Association HIV Research Award in 2017. Dr. Landovitz lectures and teaches internationally on HIV prevention, including pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Currier and Dr. Landovitz as they assume these leadership roles which are critical to the success of our strategic priorities in the department of medicine and the advancement of the division of infectious diseases at UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine.


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