Audrey Pettifor

Audrey Pettifor is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and a Fellow at the Carolina Population Center. She also holds an Honorary Professorship at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. As the Associate Chair of the UNC Department of Epidemiology and program lead for the infectious diseases epidemiology concentration, she focuses on structural determinants of HIV/STI transmission among adolescents and young women in sub-Saharan Africa. Her research spans HIV prevention, gender inequity, and the impact of structural interventions, with a growing emphasis on the intersection of public health and emerging crises like the global pandemic.

Education:

• PhD in Epidemiology, University of California, Berkeley (2004)
• MPH in Maternal and Child Health, University of California, Berkeley (2000)
• BA in Biomedical Ethics (minor in English Literature), University of Virginia (1996)

Research Interests: Dr. Pettifor’s work addresses the complex interplay of social, cultural, and economic factors influencing HIV risk in vulnerable populations. Key areas include adolescent sexual health, gender-based violence, and the design of scalable interventions to reduce health disparities. She has pioneered research on HIV self-testing, cash transfer programs for HIV prevention, and the effects of community mobilization on health behaviors in South Africa.

Grants & Leadership:

• Principal Investigator on NIH Fogarty grants (e.g., D43TW009774) fostering implementation science partnerships between UNC and the University of Witwatersrand.
• Co-chair of the NIH HIV Prevention Trials Network Adolescent Working Group.
• Member of the NIH NIAID Advisory Council and editorial boards of AIDS and Behavior and the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Labs/Teams: Active in the Carolina Population Center and the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, she collaborates on global health initiatives such as the NIH-funded CoVPN 3006 study on SARS-CoV-2 transmission post-vaccination.