Rachel Bender Ignacio

Rachel Bender Ignacio, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington and holds a joint appointment as Assistant Professor in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. She serves as Medical Director of the Fred Hutch’s COVID-19 Clinical Research Center and leads UW Positive Research, an HIV clinical trials site affiliated with the NIH’s AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG). Her research focuses on HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and cure strategies, co-infections (e.g., tuberculosis, herpesviruses), immune responses to viral infections, and translational studies on HIV-associated malignancies.

Education: MD and Certificate in Global Health from the University of Washington School of Medicine (2008), MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Washington (2014), AB in Religion from Dartmouth College (2004). Completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (2011) and a fellowship in Allergy and Infectious Diseases at UW (2015).

Research Interests: HIV pathogenesis and cure, long-acting antiretroviral therapies, immune activation in HIV, HIV-TB co-infections, and the intersection of HIV and cancer care. She also studies SARS-CoV-2 epidemiology and treatment, particularly in immunocompromised populations.

Key Contributions: Streamlined clinical trial protocols during the pandemic, co-developed CDC/IDSA guidance on COVID-19 in HIV patients, and advanced strategies to address disparities in HIV care. Her work emphasizes global health equity and the societal impact of infectious disease responses.

Awards: Robert W. Anderson Endowed Chair in HIV Research, Fialkow Scholar (2023), multiple NIH grants, and recognition for mentorship and research excellence.

Labs/Teams: Principal Investigator of the HOPE Group (HIV Outcomes, Prevention and Epidemiology) and collaborates with the ACTG and AIDS Malignancy Consortium.