Biography

Dr. Adele Schwartz Benzaken is a physician and public health expert with more than four decades of experience in the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and viral hepatitis at national, regional, and global levels. She obtained her Medical degree in 1978 and completed her PhD in Public Health in 2009. She currently serves as Medical Director of the Global Quality Program at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and acts as an external consultant for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA.

Throughout her distinguished career, Dr. Benzaken has held several senior leadership and advisory positions. She was Director of the Alfredo da Matta Tropical Dermatology and Venereology Foundation in Manaus, Brazil, from 2007 to 2010, followed by her role as an officer in the Brazilian National UNAIDS Program from 2011 to 2013. She later served as Deputy Director (2013–2016) and subsequently as Director (2016–2019) of the Department of STI, HIV/AIDS, and Viral Hepatitis at the Ministry of Health of Brazil. At the global level, Dr. Benzaken was Vice-Chair of the World Health Organization Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee on HIV and Viral Hepatitis (STAC-HIVHEP) from 2017 to 2021. She also contributed as a member of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) certification committee for the elimination of syphilis and HIV between 2016 and 2021. Additionally, she served as Vice-Chair of the UNAIDS Steering Committee for the 2025 target setting and 2020–2030 resource needs and impact estimation initiative from 2019 to 2021.

Dr. Benzaken has been actively involved in international scientific and professional societies, serving as Regional Director for Latin America of the International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections (IUSTI) and as a board member of the International Society for Sexually Transmitted Diseases Research (ISSTDR). More recently, she was Director of Fiocruz Amazonas, Brazil, from 2022 to 2023. Her extensive leadership, policy expertise, and commitment to global health continue to make her a leading voice in the fields of HIV/AIDS, STIs, and public health systems strengthening.