Course

Michelle S. Cespedes, MD, MS, tenured Professor of Medicine, joined the Division of Infectious Disease at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2014. Dr. Cespedes received her undergraduate degree in Biophysics from The Johns Hopkins University. She received her medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital – Cornell. She completed her Infectious Disease Fellowship and her Masters in Clinical Investigation at New York University. Her research areas of interest are HIV prevention in high-risk populations, complications and comorbidities of HIV, and HIV related women's health issues. Her basic science interest are genetic factors that predispose HIV patients to HPV disease. She was the protocol vice-chair of two AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) studies designed to evaluate the efficacy and immunogenicity of the preventative HPV vaccine in HIV infected men and women. Her published work includes a genetic study of cervical dysplasia in HIV infected women, HPV vaccine in HIV infected populations, and misconceptions of HIV risk in minority populations. In 2014, she was named the co-Director of ID Division’s Clinical and Translational Research Center at Mount Sinai and is the clinical research site leader of Mount Sinai’s Comprehensive Health Program Downtown. In 2020, Dr. Cespedes became the Director of the HIV Service for the Mount Sinai Hospital. In 2022, she was appointed as an Associate Program Director for Internal Medicine Residency Program at Mount Sinai. In 2025 she was named the Interim System Chief of the Division of Infectious Disease for the Mount Sinai Health System. Nationally, Dr. Cespedes sits on the Board of Directors of the Infectious Disease Society of America. She is the past Chair of the HIV Medical Association of the Infectious Disease Society of America and past chair of the ACTG’s Underrepresented Populations Committee.

Neha Sheth Pandit, PharmD, is a Professor and Vice Chair of Research and Scholarship for the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Pharmacy. She completed her PGY1 at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and her HIV Specialty Residency at University at Buffalo. Since the completion of her training, she has served as the clinical pharmacist at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s HIV outpatient, THRIVE Program. Over the years she has served on the board of a federally-qualified health center, the Advisory Board for the Maryland AIDS Drug Assistance Program, the Drug Utilization Review Board for Maryland Medicaid, various committees for the HIV PRN American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP), and the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM).

Bruce Aldred, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in the Division of Inctious Diseases. He works at Grady Memorial Hospital and the Grady Ponce de Leon Center with a clinical focus in reducing barriers to engagement in HIV care. He is the medical director of the open-access clinic within the Grady Ponce Center, which provides integrated care on a walk-in basis to people living with HIV who have not achieved a suppressed HIV viral load or other health goals in traditional clinic models.

Melanie Thompson, MD, has been a clinical researcher, provider of HIV clinical care, and policy advocate for over 35 years. In 1988, she founded the AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta (ARCA), a non-profit clinical trials center. As ARCA’s Principal Investigator, Dr. Thompson has led over 400 studies in the areas of HIV treatment, prevention and diagnostics; viral hepatitis treatment and diagnostics; sexually transmitted infection diagnostics; and epidemiology, contributing to the FDA licensure of over 40 drugs for HIV treatment and prevention.

Jonathan Colasanti, MD, MSPH, is an Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Jonathan did his medical school, MPH as well as internal medicine and global health residency at the University of Miami. He completed a Fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Emory University. He serves as the Medical Director of the Ponce de Leon Center of the Grady Health System, where they serve over 6,000 persons living with and affected by HIV. Dr. Colasanti serves as a member HIVMA/IDSA Panel on Primary Care Guidance for Persons with HIV. His clinical and research interests focus on the delivery of HIV care to key populations, across the spectrum of the care continuum. In his research, he seeks to bridge the implementation gap in order to improve the delivery of HIV care, by addressing socio-behavioral, biomedical, and systems-level barriers to care.

Eric Farmer, PharmD, is a certified HIV Clinical Pharmacist with the Indiana University Health LifeCare Program at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dr. Farmer was instrumental in starting formal clinical pharmacy services in 2009 at LifeCare, one of the largest providers of HIV medical services in the state of Indiana. At LifeCare, Dr. Farmer provides pharmacy services, including medication adherence counseling and patient education, drug information services, medication procurement, medication therapy management, and medical care coordination services. Dr. Farmer is also a clinical preceptor at IU Health. Dr. Farmer graduated from Butler University with his Doctor of Pharmacy in 2007. He is the Secretary and a member of the Board of Directors for the American Academy of HIV Medicine, and also serves as clinical faculty for the Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center.