ari scientists
Nancy Padian, PhD, MPH
Nancy Padian, PhD, MPH, is a professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. She is director of international research at the AIDS Research Institute at UCSF, founder and executive director of the UCSF Women's Global Health Imperative, and associate director of research at UCSF Global Health Sciences. Dr. Padian is an epidemiologist and an internationally recognized expert in the heterosexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. In 1994, she co-founded the University of Zimbabwe–UCSF Collaborative Research Programme in Women’s Health in Zimbabwe to prevent HIV and other adverse reproductive health outcomes among vulnerable women and girls. Building on this work, Dr. Padian founded the UCSF Women’s Global Health Imperative (WGHI) in 2001, and has since built a portfolio of over 20 research projects in India, Mexico, San Francisco, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
Her current research program focuses largely on developing and evaluating female-controlled methods for disease prevention such as the diaphragm and microbicides, as well as alternative strategies for fostering young women’s economic independence, thereby reducing their susceptibility to HIV. Dr. Padian has over 17 years experience developing and directing national and international projects on HIV and has served as principal investigator on multiple federally funded research projects in high-risk populations. She is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and chairs the National Institutes of Health Office of AIDS Research Planning Committee for HIV-Related International Research.
