Nancy Padian, PhD, MPH
Executive Director, Women's Global Health Imperative
Email: npadian@rti.org
Biosketch:
Dr. Padian is a Professor in residence in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is also Director of International Research at the AIDS Research Institute, and Director of the Center for Global Research on Gender and Reproductive Health. She earned her undergraduate degree in Child Development and Education at Colgate University, her M.S. at Syracuse University, and M.P.H. and Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Padian and her team are widely recognized as an authority in the field of AIDS research. She has developed and directed numerous projects on HIV and other STDs in high-risk populations in the San Francisco area, including serving as Principal Investigator on the Multicenter Prospective Epidemiologic Study of HIV transmission (a CDC cooperative agreement for the study of heterosexual transmission of HIV). Dr. Padian is currently conducting research on the acceptability of available contraceptives and the efficacy of such methods in preventing HIV and other STDs. She is also investigating female-controlled methods, such as microbicides, for HIV/STD prevention. Current projects include a domestic study of the use of barrier contraceptives based at several San Francisco Bay Area clinics. In addition, she is conducting a similar study in Harare, Zimbabwe, in collaboration with the University of Zimbabwe. In Harare, she recently completed a Phase I clinical trial of microbicide. In Spring 1999, she will begin two new studies in Zimbabwe - a hormonal contraception study and Nonoxynol-9 study, which will look at the effects of these methods on HIV and other STD acquisition.
Dr. Padian is the author of numerous scientific papers featured in the Journal of the American Medical Association and other publications. She was awarded a Syracuse University Graduate Fellowship, the University of California, Berkeley's Fogarty International Travel Award, as well as, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate's Award of Excellence. She currently serves on the National Advisory Boards of the National Academy of Science's National Research Council on Needle Exchange and Bleach Distribution, the National Institute of Health (NIH) Office of AIDS Research's Review Panel on Natural History, Epidemiology and Prevention Research, and the NIH Office of AIDS Research's Review Panel on Defining AIDS Funding Priorities.