Sten Vermund

Sten H. Vermund, MD, PhD is an infectious disease epidemiologist and pediatrician focused on diseases of resource-limited settings, including HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (especially HPV), COVID-19, and parasitic diseases. His methodological and field research background encompasses epidemiology, clinical trials, and translational research, bringing efficacious clinical and public health tools to the field and assessing efficacy and scaling up in operations for HIV care and cervical cancer screening. From 2020-2023, Dr. Vermund pivoted his work towards COVID-19 research and intervention, working with Chinese collaborators on early insights, with Yale economists on mask use in March 2020, and on safety in U.S. schools and arts organizations.

Prior leadership roles include serving as Principal Investigator of the Adolescent Medicine HIV/AIDS Research Network, the NIH Prevention Trials Network, U.S. HIV/AIDS programs in Zambia, Nigeria, and Mozambique (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief or PEPFAR), and the Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholars and Fellows Program. Dr. Vermund is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. In February 2024, he was one of 15 foreign nationals to receive the 16th Great Wall Friendship Award from the Beijing Municipal Government for “outstanding contributions to the development of Beijing”.