A pioneer in the fight against AIDS, Eric P. Goosby has, since June 23, 2009, overseen the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) as part of his role as U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, leading all of the federal government’s international HIV/AIDS efforts.

 

Goosby’s father, Dr. Zuretti Goosby, was a dentist and one-time elected member of the San Francisco Board of Education. Born in San Francisco in 1952, Goosby received his Bachelor of Arts in biology from Princeton University (1974) and his MD from the University of California, San Francisco, where he also completed his residency (1981). He then completed a two-year Kaiser Fellowship at UCSF in general internal medicine with a subspecialty in infectious diseases.

 

Goosby has more than 30 years of experience with HIV/AIDS, beginning with his early years treating patients at San Francisco General Hospital, where, as an intern, he encountered his first AIDS patient in 1979. Before long, 80% of the hospital’s patients were those infected with AIDS.

 

In 1986, he served as AIDS activity division attending physician, and in 1987 was appointed associate medical director of San Francisco General Hospital’s AIDS Clinic.

 

In 1991, Goosby began his government career as director of HIV services at the Health Resources and Services Administration in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this position, he administered the newly authorized Ryan White CARE Act, overseeing the distribution of federal funds and the planning of services in 25 AIDS epicenters around the U.S.

 

Three years later, Goosby became director of the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy in the Department of Health and Human Services, where he advised on the federal HIV/AIDS budget and worked with Congress on AIDS-related issues.

 

In 1995, Goosby created and convened the department’s Panel on Clinical Practices for the Treatment of HIV Infections. This panel defined how to use protease inhibitors in conjunction with already existing antiretrovirals, later expanding its work to address standards of care for antiretroviral use for pediatric patients and pregnant women.

 

Goosby also served as interim director of the National AIDS Policy Office at the White House, reporting directly to President Bill Clinton as his senior advisor on HIV-related issues. In 1998, he helped to foster and orchestrate the dialogue on racial disparities in HIV/AIDS that led to the Minority AIDS Initiative. Goosby’s office also coordinated scientific reviews of needle exchange programs.

 

In 2000, Goosby served as acting deputy director of the National AIDS Policy Office in the White House, while continuing to work as director of HIV/AIDS policy at the Department of Health and Human Services.

 

After leaving government service when George W. Bush took over the presidency, he served as CEO and chief medical officer of the Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation. In this role Goosby helped in the development and implementation of HIV/AIDS national treatment plans in South Africa, Rwanda, China, and Ukraine. He continued in this position for eight years until President Obama asked him to return to government service in June 2009.

 

Goosby was also a professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, before joining the Obama administration.

 

Goosby and his wife, Nancy Truelove, have a son, Eric, and a daughter, Zoe.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Eric Goosby Biography (State Department)

Eric Goosby (Wikipedia)

Eric Goosby (WhoRunsGov, Washington Post)