Innovator Award

2026 HIVMA Innovator Awardee 

Jason E. Zucker, MD, MS 

Jason E. Zucker, MD, MS, is a rigorous investigator and a true innovator in the field of HIV and sexually transmitted infections. He asks questions and adheres to a science-based approach to assess those questions and facilitate evidence-based decision-making.  

Dr. Zucker is an assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians; principal investigator and co-medical director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded New York City STI/HIV Prevention Training Center; and lead for emerging technologies in clinical research in the Columbia Department of Medicine, translating informatics and artificial intelligence methods across disciplines. He has worked on projects to build machine learning and natural language processing models that identify individuals most in need of HIV prevention services, along with real-time dashboards and learning health system surveillance that surface disparities in HIV and STI care. 

When mpox emerged in the U.S. in 2022, Dr. Zucker worked tirelessly, sharing templates and protocols based on his experience in New York City. He cared for patients while leading a cross-disciplinary platform that integrated clinical, epidemiologic and behavioral data to inform patient care and national treatment guidance. He was one of the vice chairs on the ACTG Study of Tecovirimat for Mpox, or STOMP, Trial; he leveraged scientific agility and principled leadership to help lead a study that went from concept to first enrollment in nine weeks. When the trial drew scrutiny and public debate, Dr. Zucker engaged those challenges with grace and an unwavering commitment to the scientific process. The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2026, stand as a landmark contribution to emerging infectious disease therapeutics. 

As principal investigator of the Doxy4STICare study, Dr. Zucker is generating evidence on the equitable integration of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis into sexual health care as well as its impact on antimicrobial resistance. 

Dr. Zucker serves as a member of the IAS-USA Prevention Guidelines and the CDC STI Treatment Guidelines Committee and the lead of Project Stay, providing comprehensive youth-focused sexual health care in New York City.  

He is especially interested in translating his insights into deployable interventions, including provider nudges to increase PrEP discussions (Get2PrEP), digital tools to sustain PrEP adherence (Stick2PrEP) and a patient decision aid that increased emergency department STI testing (STIckER), now advancing to a multisite randomized trial. A consummate collaborator, Dr. Zucker mentors younger investigators and partners with colleagues on the newest questions in his field.  

HIVMA is pleased to honor Dr. Zucker with the HIVMA Innovator Award for his innovation in integrating data science, behavioral science and implementation science to improve sexual health care. 

2026 Honorary HIVMA Innovator Awardee 

Lauren F. Collins, MD, MSc, FIDSA 

Lauren F. Collins, MD, MSc, FIDSA, a compassionate physician, a tireless advocate for patients and a respected leader whose work helped reduce barriers to care, is being recognized posthumously with an Honorary Innovator Award. During her tenure as a researcher and clinician at Emory School of Medicine and Grady Memorial Hospital and Ponce de Leon Center, Dr. Collins, who died in January 2026, combined exceptional clinical care with innovative research to advance equitable, person-centered HIV treatment.  

Upon joining the faculty at Emory in 2020, Dr. Collins emerged as a national leader in HIV clinical research and implementation. She published a series of landmark studies focused on aging-related comorbidities, particularly among women, with the goal of mitigating their impact and promoting healthy aging in people with HIV.  

Dr. Collins did not simply adopt new technologies — she reimagined how they could be delivered to those who needed them most. As founder and medical director of the Grady Ponce de Leon Center’s Long-Acting Antiretroviral Therapy Program, Dr. Collins emphasized an equitable and collaborative approach to care. She designed novel workflows, built interdisciplinary teams, developed population health tools and created scalable protocols that enabled long-acting therapies to reach individuals historically excluded from such advances, including patients with viremia, complex social needs and pregnancy. Under Dr. Collins’ leadership, the Ponce LA ART program grew from a pilot of 25 people with HIV in 2021 to be the largest single-site clinical program in the country — serving as a flagship for equitable programmatic scale-up, patient-centered care and integrated research and mentoring. 

Dr. Collins presented her innovative work in LA ART implementation and served as an invited speaker at IDWeek and other major conferences. She served as principal investigator of a CDC U01 mixed-methods study leveraging a multisite women’s health research cohort and robust academic-community partnerships to explore HIV treatment preferences and implementation in the LA ART era among Southern Black women and service providers. She was also co-investigator of an R01 multisite collaboration assessing stakeholder perspectives on optimizing LA ART implementation.  

A beloved mentor, teacher and advisor to students, residents, fellows, staff and junior faculty, Dr. Collins served as the HIVMA representative for the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Consensus Statement on the use of LA antiretroviral medications for HIV treatment and prevention (published in 2024). She also co-authored 2025 policy recommendations by IDSA/HIVMA in this area. 

HIVMA is pleased to honor Dr. Collins with an Honorary HIVMA Innovator Award for her dedication to her patients and colleagues and for her innovative, evidence-based interventions for communities affected by HIV. Her scientific contributions, leadership and spirit will have a lasting impact on HIV care for generations to come.