2021 M. Irene Ferrer Awardee of SARS-CoV-2, Columbia University
Delivette Castor is Assistant Professor (in Medicine), Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, the Columbia University Medical Center. She is an epidemiologist who studies how to deliver public health innovations at scale by examining the unique and joint effects of biomedical, behavioral and structural factors that affect infectious diseases in priority populations in low- and middle-income country settings (LMICS), and in marginalized populations in the US. She joined the faculty of Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) in November 2019. Prior, she led implementation research activities within the President’s Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) at two U.S government agencies; as Senior Epidemiologist and eventually, acting chief of Implementation Science branch, the office of HIV/AIDS (OHA), United States Agency for International Development (USAID); and Senior Epidemiologist in the Office of Research and Science, the office of the Global AIDS coordinator, Department of State (S/GAC). She worked within PEPFAR-supported programs to design, implement and evaluate comprehensive HIV interventions, introduce and scale-up novel prevention technologies. These often involved designing large community trials utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods, stakeholder engagement, capacity building, analysis, dissemination and utilization of study findings through coordination with policymakers and program-planners. Her HIV research involves intersecting areas of interest such as women’s and reproductive health, health disparities, mental health, nutrition, cervical cancer and other emerging infections (i.e., SARS-CoV-2).