HIVMA honored four HIV medicine specialists during IDWeek 2026 for their contributions to clinical care, research, education and advocacy
The honorees included Frederick L. Altice, MD, MA, who received the Transformative Leader Award; Donna E. Sweet, MD, recipient of the Adaora Adimora Citation Award; Jason E. Zucker, MD, MS, recipient of the Innovator Award; and Lauren F. Collins, MD, MSc, FIDSA, who received the Honorary Innovator Award posthumously.
“It is a privilege to honor these courageous and compassionate leaders and celebrate their steadfast commitment to advancing high-quality care, groundbreaking research and equitable policies that bring us closer to ending the HIV epidemic,” said Anna K. Person, MD, FIDSA, chair of HIVMA.
Transformative Leader Award: Frederick L. Altice, MD, MA
Frederick L. Altice, MD, MA, a professor of medicine and public health at Yale University, was recognized for developing approaches to HIV care that combine medical treatment with services addressing substance use and other barriers to care.
His work has focused on improving access to prevention and treatment for people who use drugs and those who have experienced incarceration. His initiatives include a mobile medical clinic operating within a syringe services program and a health care delivery program linking academic medicine with correctional facilities.
Dr. Altice has also developed care models that bring HIV testing, antiretroviral therapy and pre-exposure prophylaxis together with treatment for opioid use disorder, hepatitis C virus infection and mental health conditions. These services have been offered through settings including mobile clinics, correctional facilities and community organizations.
His research and public health work has extended beyond the U.S. to countries including Malaysia, Ukraine and Peru. He has directed more than 100 funded research and service-delivery initiatives and contributed to more than 600 scholarly publications.
Dr. Altice is the founding director of the Yale Center for Clinical and Community Research and a founding member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS.
Adaora Adimora Citation Award: Donna E. Sweet, MD
Donna E. Sweet, MD, a professor at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, was honored for her work expanding HIV services and advocating for patients who face financial, geographic and other barriers to treatment.
During the early years of the HIV epidemic, Dr. Sweet helped establish care services in Kansas, including the state's first clinic supported by Ryan White funding. She later created the Sweet Emergency Fund to assist patients whose needs were not covered by existing federal or state programs.
Her work has also included establishing the Kansas AIDS Education and Training Center and developing HIV education and treatment resources for rural communities.
Dr. Sweet serves as principal investigator and clinical director of the Midwest AIDS Education and Training Center serving Kansas and Nebraska and directs Kansas Care Through Housing.
At the national level, she chaired the CDC/Health Resources and Services Administration Advisory Committee on HIV and STD Prevention and Treatment from 2007 to 2011. She is also a former chair of the American Academy of HIV Medicine.
The award is named for Adaora Adimora, MD, MPH, FIDSA, a former HIVMA chair and IDSA board member whose work addressed health equity through research, education and advocacy.
Innovator Award: Jason E. Zucker, MD, MS
Jason E. Zucker, MD, MS, an assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, was recognized for research examining how digital technologies and clinical interventions can improve HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention.
Dr. Zucker has developed projects using machine learning and natural language processing to identify gaps in HIV screening and prevention services. His research has also evaluated strategies to increase screening in emergency departments, encourage discussions about pre-exposure prophylaxis and support treatment adherence.
One project, STIckER, uses a patient decision aid to support sexually transmitted infection testing in emergency departments and is moving into a randomized trial involving 13 sites. Another, Doxy4STICare, examines the use of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis in sexual health care, including potential implications for antimicrobial resistance.
Dr. Zucker also contributed to the clinical and research response to the 2022 mpox outbreak. As a vice chair of the ACTG Study of Tecovirimat for Mpox, known as STOMP, he helped move the trial from initial planning to enrollment within nine weeks. Findings were published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2026.
He is the principal investigator and co-medical director of the New York City STI/HIV Prevention Training Center and directs Project STAY, which provides sexual health services for adolescents and young adults.
Honorary Innovator Award: Lauren F. Collins, MD, MSc, FIDSA
Lauren F. Collins, MD, MSc, FIDSA, who died in January 2026, was honored for her research and clinical work expanding access to long-acting HIV treatment.
While working at Emory School of Medicine and Grady Memorial Hospital and Ponce de Leon Center, Dr. Collins investigated ways to make HIV treatment more accessible to patients who had historically faced barriers to receiving newer therapies.
She founded and served as medical director of the Grady Ponce de Leon Center's Long-Acting Antiretroviral Therapy Program, which developed care protocols and clinical support systems for patients with complex medical and social needs, including people with viremia and those who were pregnant. According to HIVMA, the program became the largest single-site clinical initiative of its kind in the country under her leadership.
Dr. Collins also studied the effects of aging-related health conditions among people with HIV, with particular attention to women. Her research examined preferences for long-acting treatment and approaches to making these therapies more accessible to Black women in the South.
She contributed to a 2024 American College of Clinical Pharmacy consensus statement on long-acting antiretroviral medications and co-authored IDSA/HIVMA policy recommendations on the topic in 2025.