Anna Person | Director of Education and Faculty Development; Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Citation: Microbiol Infect Dis AMJ. 2026; https://doi.org/10.33590/microbiolinfectdisamj/0685QK8N
Looking back across your career so far in infectious diseases (ID), which achievement or moment stands out most?
Having the privilege over the last year to serve as the Chair for the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) has undoubtedly been the highlight of my career so far. To be a part of an organization that has a mission statement like ours is inspirational to me. We talk about advocacy, science, and social justice in our mission. Those are the reasons I went into ID in the first place. To care for vulnerable and marginalized individuals and communities, and to lead an organization of 6,000 dedicated and tireless HIV care providers has been perhaps the highlight of my career.
There’s no question it’s been a hard few years for ID and HIV care providers and researchers, and harder still on the patients we serve. There have been sustained attacks on HIV research and clinical care, including on critical safety net programs that serve our patients, like the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, Medicaid, and the HIV prevention services supported by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention. But to be part of a group that everyday continues to stand up for people with HIV and persist in spite of these challenges is incredibly gratifying. The people I work with inspire me daily!
At what point did HIV become the focus of your career?
Very early on I realized working in HIV medicine was going to be my passion. Originally, I envisioned living and working abroad, but it didn’t take long to realize that there was a desperate need for HIV providers in the US South, which is still the area in the country with the highest HIV incidence and prevalence. I love the holistic nature of caring for people with HIV. Many of my patients I’ve known for many years, watching them, sometimes, go from critical condition to today living healthy and happy lives. It’s been so clear, doing this work, how crucial social determinants of health are to the health of our patients: it’s clear that food is healthcare, that housing is healthcare, and that access to substance-use treatment and mental health care are absolutely integral to the health and quality of life of our patients.
Your research interests include HIV clinical outcomes in Latin America. Where do the biggest evidence gaps remain?
I think the biggest gap remains access; access to HIV treatment and prevention breakthroughs. So often there are these practice-changing, life-changing treatment and prevention studies (often done in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, or Latin America), but when the study ends, access remains a problem. We did a study on cryptococcal outcomes in people living with HIV in Latin America and, while treatment recommendations have not changed much over time, the vast majority of sites we studied did not have access to first-line treatment. We must do a better job, both in the US and globally, focusing on health equity in HIV. This means focusing on fair and equitable drug pricing and supporting testing and treatment centers and providing healthcare coverage for all. Globally, cuts to the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) have been devastating, with the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) reporting at the AIDS Meeting this July in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that 73% of organizations providing key population services permanently stopped providing at least one service.1 I think these cuts to PEPFAR and global HIV services are going to have ripple effects for years and even decades to come unfortunately.
As Director of Education and Faculty Development in the Division of Infectious Diseases, how are you approaching the ID workforce pipeline, and what makes trainees choose HIV medicine today?
I worry almost every day about the ID workforce pipeline and our ability to sustain it without improved compensation for cognitive care. We also need incentives like the loan repayment for ID and HIV health care professionals that would be provided by the bio-preparedness workforce pilot program: a program authorized but not yet funded by Congress. Yet, due to many factors like compensation, reimbursement, exposure to ID in training, and other factors, many ID fellowships are not filled each year. The people who choose HIV medicine often go into it due to their passion for social justice, advocacy, and a desire to affect our patients in a deeply meaningful way, and that is more important than ever. I truly believe ID/HIV providers are some of the smartest, most compassionate, mission-driven folks out there and we will continue to do the work for our patients, no matter what. I absolutely love my job, and love when we get to introduce our amazing field to learners. I hope we can continue to demonstrate to young people how rewarding and impactful our field can be.
Twice-yearly lenacapavir has changed the prevention landscape, with rollout now underway across high-burden countries. What does this mean for prevention in US clinics?
Again, I believe that access and the barriers to access, including health coverage for all and drug prices are the biggest issues. There was, deservedly, a standing ovation when the results of the PURPOSE trial (lenacapavir for HIV prevention) were presented at a scientific meeting. But we struggle so much already with access to care, I worry most people will never get a chance to benefit from these innovations. We need to ensure that our healthcare system works to insure more people in a less complex and expensive way. Unfortunately, cuts and changes to Medicaid, threats to the Ryan White program, expiration of the enhanced premium tax cuts, and the price of drugs contributing to burdensome prior-authorization processes all make accessing health care services harder for patients. It’s incredibly hopeful to have these new advances in HIV treatment and prevention but we cannot stop our advocacy around access. We must continue to demand the best for our patients and communities.
What do clinicians still get wrong about HIV, and which of those misconceptions do you find most damaging in the clinic?
That HIV is no longer a problem! Unfortunately, this couldn’t be farther from the truth, especially in the US South. While it’s true that we now have multiple options for HIV prevention, that living with HIV now can mean a normal life span, and that HIV can be easier to treat than diabetes or hypertension, far too many people are unaware of their status in the US. Far too many people are not getting linked to care or are not able to stay in care once they are diagnosed. Our viral suppression rate in the US is only 69%.2 We have tools that can stop the HIV epidemic in its tracks, but we need increased investments in public health and HIV care and supportive services to provide access to them in addition to ongoing investments in HIV research to advance the cure and vaccine needed to change the trajectory of the HIV epidemic. Unfortunately, in the last year and a half, we are seeing the opposite. The rollback of crucial HIV research programs, cancellation of grants, and cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid and the Ryan White Program will turn back the clock on all the progress we’ve made so far.
As you approach the end of your term as Chair of the HIV Medicine Association, what are your priorities for the association during your remaining time in the role?
Our priorities are to stay true to our mission statement: to “advance a comprehensive and humane response to the HIV pandemic, informed by science and social justice.” To me, this means we need to continue to fight against policies that roll back the progress we’ve made over the past 4 decades. We have to protect crucial programs that have saved lives for people with HIV, like Ryan White, Medicaid, and PEPFAR. We have to protect our research infrastructure and be sure that life-saving research can continue. We need to continue to focus on inspiring the next generation of ID and HIV care providers to take up this very rewarding work.
What is your ambition for the HIV field over the next 5 years?
It’s going to be a crucial next 5 years in our field. We must prevent the erosion of hard-fought advances, and continue to work on access and pricing of these innovative and life-changing therapies and prevention options. But we also need to think about rebuilding. What does the world look like in light of these fundamental changes we’ve seen to HIV research, clinical care, and prevention? How do we envision a world where we are not just fighting against these destructive policies hurting our field and our patients, but moving towards new and innovative ways to deliver care? We have an opportunity to re-imagine the way healthcare is delivered in the US for people with HIV and all of us. Patients are asking for this kind of innovation. Let’s lean into mobile units, innovative service delivery, and street medicine, and truly meet patients where they are at. Let’s reimagine this future in new and better ways that serve our communities even better than before.
