amfAR Announces Chief Executive Officer Succession Plan

At the end of 2025, Kevin Robert Frost will retire af­ter more than 30 years of service to amfAR, the last 18 as its Chief Executive Officer. Kyle Clifford, Chief Development Officer and a member of amfAR’s management team since 2020, will become Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2026.

“It’s hard to adequately express our gratitude to Kevin Robert Frost for all he has done to advance amfAR’s mission since joining the Foun­dation more than three decades ago,” amfAR Board Co-Chair T. Ryan Greenawalt said. “The passion, dedication, and inspiration Kevin has brought to the role of CEO has enabled amfAR to cement its reputa­tion as a leading biomedical research institution and an authoritative voice on HIV, and to take giant steps towards a cure.”

Board Co-Chair Kevin McClatchy added, “No one is better positioned or better qualified to take the reins at amfAR than Kyle Clifford. Since joining amfAR, Kyle has reinvigorated the Foundation’s development strategies and initiatives, launched successful new fundraising events, sought out new streams of revenue, and inspired the board and staff with his energy and personal devotion to the organization and the cause. We have every confidence in Kyle’s ability to lead amfAR into an exciting new chapter of growth, to new breakthroughs, and to new levels of success in the years ahead.”

Frost joined amfAR in 1994 and served in various roles before being appointed CEO. As Vice President, Clinical Research and Prevention Programs and later, Vice President, Global Initiatives, he worked ex­tensively in Asia, where he facilitated the development of amfAR’s TREAT Asia program. This network of more than 50 hospitals, com­munity clinics, NGOs, and healthcare facilities in 12 countries has be­come a model for regional collaboration on HIV/AIDS.

During his tenure as CEO, Frost has overseen the launch of major initiatives including the amfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research, established in 2016 with a five-year, $20 million grant to the University of California, San Francisco. The Institute was the centerpiece of a Countdown to a Cure for AIDS initiative that raised more than $50 million for cure research. In 2014, amfAR created IciStem, a consortium of European researchers aiming to replicate the circumstances by which Timothy Ray Brown was cured of HIV in 2008. Three of the subsequent 10 cure cases—the London, Düsseldorf, and Geneva patients—were part of the IciStem consortium.

“It has been an honor and the privilege of a lifetime to serve at the helm of amfAR and champion its cutting-edge work as a pioneer in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” said Frost. “Since my early days at am­fAR when Dr. Ellen Cooper recruited me to the organization, I have watched in admiration the progress scientists in the U.S. and around the world have made to end the HIV epidemic. We’re closer today than ever before to meeting the enormity of the challenge.”

Click Here to read more from the May 2025 issue of amfAR INNOVATIONS.

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