Laura A. Guay, MD

Professor, Epidemiology & Biostatistics, GW SPHHS
Vice President of Research, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

Phone: (202) 280-1645
Email: lguay@pedaids.org

Current HIV/AIDS Educational Activities:

• Mentors graduate students conducting research and completing practicums at EGPAF
• Lectures as an invited guest in GW SPHHS Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics courses

Current HIV/AIDS Research Activities:

• Current research interests focus on HIV in women and children, particularly preventing transmission through breastfeeding
• Co-PI of the UNICEF-funded Operational Research Secretariat with UNICEF

Current HIV/AIDS Service Activities:

• Member of the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator's Expert Panel on the Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV transmission, a State Department entity that makes recommendations for scaling up prevention services
• Member of the WHO guideline committee, which is reviewing guidelines for treating pregnant women and preventing HIV transmission to their infants, and of the Pediatric HIV Vaccine Data Monitoring Ethics Committee, which is monitoring HIV vaccine trials in Kenya and the Gambia.

Africa has long had a draw for Dr. Laura Guay. Her 20-year career, devoted to the challenge of curbing HIV infection in women and children on the continent, began with a medical school elective in the former Zaire, followed by a three-year HIV research project in Uganda after residency. Dr. Guay later became a visiting lecturer at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and worked on the landmark HIVNET 012 trial, which demonstrated that a single-dose of the antiviral medication nevirapine could prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. Dr. Guay joined the SPHHS faculty in 2008, at the same time she became Vice President for Research at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF). As part of a broader effort to strengthen ties between the two organizations, she mentors graduate students conducting research and completing practicums at EGPAF and lectures as an invited guest in Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics courses. Dr. Guay remains on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she has been since 1996. She was the principal investigator of a multi-million dollar grant from the National Institute of Health's Division of AIDS, which supports the Uganda clinical trials unit collaboratively operated by Makerere and Johns Hopkins.