Dear Colleague: October 1, 2021

October 1, 2021

Dear Colleague,

We are delighted to announce that today, October 1, 2021, marks the official stand-up of the new Division of HIV Prevention organizational structure [PDF – 261 KB]. For more than two years, Division leadership and staff worked tirelessly to design and implement a more fit-for-purpose organizational structure that fosters enhanced collaboration between scientific and programmatic activities to drive meaningful, lasting change in communities affected by HIV. This stand-up marks a new day for HIV prevention. Our new structure modernizes our organization and better positions us to address our key priorities with renewed energy, direction, and focus. These priorities include:

• Accelerating the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative by using HIV prevention indicators to direct programmatic improvement and jurisdictional support;
• Centering health equity in all internal and external DHP activities;
• Expanding jurisdictional support to provide grantees with the technical assistance and tools they need to address their HIV prevention priorities, such as HIV-related inequities and syndemics;
• Enhancing the research-to-practice cycle to translate the latest evidence to programs and use programmatic priorities to inform HIV prevention science;
• Leading national efforts to identify HIV clusters and outbreaks and supporting timely and community-responsive tailored action; and
• Conducting multidisciplinary research to generate the data, evidence, surveillance, and tools needed to apply the best science to HIV prevention and treatment efforts.

As part of the EHE initiative and other flagship programs, DHP supports health departments and community-based organizations in advancing HIV prevention. The new structure will allow us to fine tune and optimize our support for our programs and maximize their impact.  We expect that this change in structure will not result in major day-to-day operational changes for our recipients.  CDC has communicated with recipients to ensure that they understand any structural or process changes that will be made due to the reorganization.

In addition to these organizational structure changes, we are also excited to announce that as of today  the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention will become the Division of HIV Prevention (DHP), and the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention will become the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. The decision to remove AIDS from our titles was not made lightly, and it is the result of several years of discussion about the core mission of our organization and was informed by partner discussions over the past decade. We believe our new titles more accurately reflect the organization’s focus on high impact prevention of HIV—by preventing new HIV infections, improving health outcomes for persons with HIV, and reducing HIV-related disparities and health inequities.

We are incredibly grateful to DHP leadership and staff for balancing and prioritizing our reorganization efforts alongside everyday duties, even amid the challenges we continue to face due to COVID-19. We simply could not have accomplished this transformation without their long-term commitment and engagement. DHP staff set the vision for this milestone, but all of our partners will play a key role in realizing the goals of the new structure. We are excited for this work to come to fruition and for DHP staff to be better positioned for achieving long-term success in ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S. Please join us in celebrating this milestone for CDC, NCHHSTP, and DHP. Together, with powerful prevention tools and partners, we will reach our goal of ending the HIV epidemic.

Sincerely,

/Demetre Daskalakis/
Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH
Director
Division of HIV Prevention
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

/Jonathan Mermin/
Jonathan H. Mermin, MD, MPH
Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General, USPHS
Director
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention