HRSA’s Laura Cheever, MD, ScM, Associate Administrator of HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB), announced that she will be retiring at the end of this calendar year after 25 years of federal service. Dr. Cheever joined HRSA in 1999 as the Branch Chief for the AIDS Education and Training Center program and became the Deputy Associate Administrator of HAB in 2002. She rose to HAB Associate Administrator in 2013. She has led the successful implementation of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) and the $2.6 billion investment to support patient-centered HIV care and treatment to over half of all people with diagnosed HIV in the United States. Board certified in infectious diseases, she continued to see patients with HIV on a weekly basis for most of her federal career.

During her tenure at HRSA, she led efforts to publish client-level data and use it to drive improvements in HIV-related outcomes, with HIV viral suppression rates rising from 69.5% in 2010 to 89.6% in 2022 for RWHAP patients. She promoted the use of quality collaboratives and an implementation science approach to drive improvements and reduce disparities for key populations which she documented in peer-reviewed literature. Dr. Cheever championed increased community engagement to identify gaps and address needs to improve the program. After the passage of the Affordable Care Act, she led policy changes within the RWHAP to maximize the impact of the ACA for people served by the program. She provided leadership in developing the framework and rollout of the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. Initiative in 2020. She is proud of her work in the early President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program, leading the collaboration with CDC to quickly scale up initiation of highly active antiretrovirals to 1.4 million people between 2004 and 2011. Within HRSA and across government, she fostered collaboration to maximize impact with existing resources. She leaves a vibrant organization ready to take on the continued challenges of ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S.

Heather Hauck, the current Deputy Associate Administrator of HAB, will serve the Acting Associate Administrator.

On Tuesday, October 15, HRSA’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program observed National Latinx HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. On this day, HRSA joined the HIV community to highlight the impact of HIV on Hispanic/Latino/a communities, promote HIV testing, increase access to prevention, care and treatment services, and stop HIV stigma.

HRSA’s Special Projects of National Significance program has replicable interventions designed to expand outreach, access and retention in HIV care among Hispanic/Latino/a populations. Additionally, you can access the RWHAP find a provider tool  to search for HIV care and support services in your community.