Meet Judy Auerbach, Our New Science and Public Policy Director

Judy Auerbach started work at the AIDS Foundation on September 18, 2006, as Deputy Executive Director for Science and Public Policy. She came to SFAF from The Foundation for AIDSResearch. Prior to that she worked for the National Institutes of Health.

What goals and priorities have you set for the public policy work of SFAF?

Being new, my first order of business is to learn and absorb. SFAF already has strong standing in local, state, and federal HIV/AIDS policy arenas, so my role will be to help build on that in ways that make sense for the organization and the communities it serves. That means maintaining our commitment to advocating for full funding of care and treatment programs that affect people living with HIV/AIDS in the Bay Area (particularly the Ryan White CARE Act, ADAP, HOPWA, Medicaid, and Medi-Cal), and working to ensure that HIV prevention policy and programs are evidence-based and culturally appropriate.

Science has been added to the title of the Director of Public Policy at SFAF. What does this change signal for the work of the policy department?

I see the addition of science as more of an expansion than a change in the policy office's work. In recent years, HIV/AIDS policy has been deeply affected by ideological concerns--particularly from social conservatives--at the expense of scientific evidence. The promotion of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for HIV prevention in the absence of any evidence that they work is perhaps the most extreme example. In order to truly combat HIV/AIDS locally, nationally, and globally, we have to implement interventions that work. To know what really works, we need rigorous research and evaluation, not moralizing. So, one area I'd like to see us get more involved in is advocacy around HIV/AIDS research and its application to programs and services--particularly in the area of prevention. Given SFAF's strong ties to local research institutions, like UCSF, and its commitment to evidence-based prevention, we are in a great position to play a stronger role in AIDS research policy and advocacy.

Your work in recent years has focused heavily on prevention. What do you see as the major challenges in HIV prevention, including those related to the "medicalization" of prevention?

There is a lot of exciting HIV prevention research going on right now--ranging from new biomedical technologies (vaccines, microbicides, pre-exposure prophylaxis) to social structural and policy change interventions (expanding access to drug addiction treatment). But funding to support this research--particularly at the federal level--is shrinking. At the same time, the biomedical establishment often is resistant to social and behavioral approaches, believing them to be less rigorous. In this environment, we need to resist the temptation to pit biomedical and behavioral/social strategies against each other, because we need a combination approach to HIV prevention, much like we have for treatment.

What made you decide to leave policy work in D.C. to come to San Francisco?

I am a San Francisco native. I was born, raised, and public school-educated here, and have always wanted to return home. When the position at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation emerged, it offered me a great opportunity to continue working in HIV/AIDS science and policy for a very well-respected non-profit organization and to do it from the city I love. I am excited about helping SFAF evolve and grow in areas that will benefit the local community and contribute to the global fight against AIDS.