Clinical Lead for the TLC-ART Program
Email: rbi13@uw.edu
Rachel Bender Ignacio is an infectious disease physician-scientist and Director of UW Positive Research since 2020. She takes care of folks living with HIV and those seeking HIV prevention care at the Madison clinic since 2013, and also cares for hospitalized patients with infectious disease concerns at Harborview and on UW Medical Cancer-Montlake’s organ transplantation service. She completed medical school and an MPH in epidemiology at the UW. She trained in Internal Medicine at Mass General Hospital/Harvard and held a faculty appointment there prior to returning to UW for Infectious Diseases fellowship. She has been conducting HIV research since 2005, and has worked with partners across in several countries in Latin America, Africa, and in India. The majority of her patient care and research has been focused on the intersection of co-infections, immune activation and HIV outcomes, and cancer. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has also taken on significant leadership on COVID-19 treatment research, also serving as the Medical Director of the COVID-19 Clinical Research Center at the Fred Hutch. As part of her leadership at UW Positive Research, she is the Clinical Lead of the TLC-ART Program with Rodney Ho; the TLC-ART program aims to develop long-acting injectable HIV treatments that can be used globally using a novel nanoparticle formulation. In addition to her work as a clinician and scientist, she is a passionate advocate for HIV and people impacted by it and other infections. She previously served as a Director on the HIV Medicine Association Board and currently is chairs the Advocacy Captains sub-committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America/HIVMA; in these roles, hopes to advance policy needs for these populations.