Rochelle Walensky, a distinguished physician-scientist, earned an NIH MERIT award for her significant contributions to HIV/AIDS policy, which included improving screening, care in South Africa, and evaluating clinical trial designs. With over 300 publications, she served as Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital from 2017 to 2020. Her academic career at Harvard Medical School began in 2001 as an instructor, progressing to Professor of Medicine by 2012. Walensky also held influential leadership roles as Chair of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council at the National Institutes of Health from 2014 to 2015, and on the US Department of Health and Human Services Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents since 2011.

These foundational experiences followed her Doctor of Medicine from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1995 and a Master of Public Health in clinical effectiveness from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2001. In the crucial period leading to her federal appointment, Walensky actively engaged in the COVID-19 response, signing the John Snow Memorandum in October 2020 and conducting vital research on SARS-CoV-2 screening strategies and vaccine delivery. In December 2020, President-elect Joe Biden appointed her the 19th Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a role she commenced on January 20, 2021.

In 2023, she was appointed Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and concurrently serves as a Senior Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Extending her impact in public service and philanthropy, she joined the board of trustees for both the Doris Duke Foundation and The Carter Center in 2023, continuing to shape health policy and global well-being.