Transformative Leader Award

Frederick L. Altice, MD, MA

Frederick L. Altice, MD, MA, is professor of medicine and public health at Yale University. Trained in infectious diseases and addiction medicine, he has devoted his career to redesigning health systems so people with HIV, and those at greatest risk, can obtain prevention and treatment without navigating fragmented, stigmatizing service delivery systems. 

Dr. Altice is internationally recognized for bringing care to patients rather than forcing patients to fit conventional settings. He established the first mobile medical clinic embedded in a syringe services program, developed the first academic–correctional health care delivery program and created one of the earliest community-based drug-checking services using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. These innovations challenged where care belongs and how quickly it can reach people excluded by traditional systems. 

Integration is the hallmark of his work. Dr. Altice has designed models combining HIV testing, antiretroviral therapy and pre-exposure prophylaxis with medications for opioid use disorder, hepatitis C virus treatment, mental health care, overdose prevention, syringe services, drug checking and social support. He has brought them to mobile clinics, addiction treatment programs, correctional facilities, community organizations and street outreach. 

His work has redefined care for people who use drugs and people affected by incarceration. Rather than relying on fragile referrals among disconnected programs, his models deliver HIV care, medications for opioid use disorder, HCV treatment, overdose prevention and other services together — rapidly, respectfully and where people already seek help. He has established integrated delivery as a clinical, public health and health equity imperative. 

Dr. Altice has also advanced harm reduction vending machines, home delivery of syringe services, mobile health interventions, digital decision support tools, low-threshold treatment pathways and community drug checking in response to an increasingly unpredictable drug supply. These efforts reflect a central principle: Even the best prevention or treatment has limited value when people cannot access it promptly, without stigma, and in a form they can use. 

Dr. Altice has led more than 100 funded research and service-delivery initiatives and authored more than 600 scholarly publications. His work across the United States, Malaysia, Ukraine, Peru and Central Asia has translated evidence into practical systems of care. 

He is founding director of the Yale Center for Clinical and Community Research, a founding member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS and an inaugural member of the Global Health Justice Partnership. He has mentored clinicians and researchers worldwide. 

HIVMA is proud to honor Dr. Altice with the 2026 HIVMA Transformative Leader Award. Through bold innovation, rigorous scholarship, compassionate care and community partnership, he has changed how HIV prevention and treatment are delivered — and expanded what is possible for people left behind by traditional health systems. 

2024  – Daniel R. Kuritzkes, MD, FIDSA
2023 – Judith Feinberg, MD, FACP, FIDSA