As vice president and director of research at amfAR, Rowena Johnston is
responsible for overseeing the Foundation’s pioneering research program. Her
responsibilities include determining the Foundation’s research priorities,
evaluating and analyzing the program’s direction, and serving as a liaison
between the research committee and other committees.
Dr. Johnston has overseen the reorganization of amfAR’s research program in
order to target work directed at improving HIV prevention and treatment
interventions, support the career development of young HIV/AIDS researchers, and
aggressively pursue a cure for HIV. In 2010 she was instrumental in forming the amfAR Research Consortium on HIV Eradication (ARCHE).
In addition to her Foundation work, Dr. Johnston serves on a number of
HIV-related advisory committees and as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous journals
and conferences. She has published several scientific papers, and has been an
invited speaker at numerous educational institutions around the country as well
as at international conferences. She regularly speaks to the press about
emerging research findings.
Dr. Johnston received her Ph.D. in psychology (biopsychology) in 1998 from
the University of Michigan. From 1997–1998 she was a postdoctoral fellow in the
department of neurology at Emory University, and from 1998–2001, she was a
visiting research fellow at the cellular neurology branch of the National
Institute on Drug Abuse in Baltimore, Maryland. Prior to joining amfAR in
September 2001, Dr. Johnston was scientific advisor at the Michael J. Fox
Foundation/Parkinson’s Action Network.
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