Carlos del Rio, MD
Chair, Emory University Department of Medicine
H. Cliff Sauls Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health
Carlos del Rio, MD, is the chair of the Department of Medicine, the first graduate of our residency program to hold this position. A graduate of La Salle University in Mexico City, Dr. del Rio first came to Emory as a visiting medical student in 1982. He completed his internal medicine residency and infectious diseases fellowship at Emory and joined the faculty in 1996.
A global leader in HIV research and policy, he is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His leadership and contributions to the Emory community over the past 28 years have been invaluable, and we look forward to how he will lead the department's tripartite mission of promoting excellence in clinical care, education, and research.
Education
- MD from Universidad La Salle, 1983
- Residency in Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
- Infectious Diseases Fellowship, Emory University School of Medicine
Positions and Faculty Appointments
Emory University Faculty Appointments
- Chair, Emory University Department of Medicine, 2024–present
- H. Cliff Sauls Distinguished Professor of Medicine, 2024-present
- Executive Associate Dean, Emory School of Medicine & Grady Health System, 2024
- Interim Dean, Emory University School of Medicine, 2023–2024
- Leon L. Haley Jr. MD Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, 2021– 2024
- Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health, 2019–present
- Chief of the Emory Medical Service at Grady Memorial Hospital, 2001–2009
- Chair of the Hubert Department of Global Health, 2009–2019
- Master Clinician, Emory University School of Medicine, 2019–present
- Professor, Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, 2003–present
Research Positions
- Co-Director, Emory Center for AIDS Research
- Co-PI, Emory Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit
Biography
Dr. del Rio is a native of Mexico where he attended medical school at Universidad La Salle, graduating in 1983. He did his Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases residencies at Emory University. In 1989 he returned to Mexico, where he was Executive Director of the National AIDS Council of Mexico (CONASIDA, the Federal agency of the Mexican Government responsible for AIDS Policy throughout Mexico) from 1992 through 1996. In November 1996, he returned to Emory where he has been involved in teaching and research. Del Rio’s spouse, Jeannette Guarner, MD, is also a professor at Emory School of Medicine and the Director of the Clinical laboratories at Emory University Hospital Midtown and the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory Midtown and also serves as vice chair for faculty affairs and development in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
For more than two decades, del Rio has worked with marginalized populations to improve clinical care and outcomes in the U.S. and abroad and was recently recognized by the CDC Office of Minority Health and Health Equity as a Health Equity Champion. His work has focused on research, policy development, and disseminating scientific findings regarding global infectious disease threats such as COVID-19. Del Rio is currently the HIV/AIDS Chief Section Editor for NEJM Journal Watch Infectious Diseases and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of AIDS, Vaccines, and Global Public Health. He has co-authored 30 book chapters and over 550 scientific papers.
Research
Dr. del Rio’s research focuses on the early diagnosis, access to care, engagement in care, compliance with antiretrovirals and the prevention of HIV infection. He has worked for over a decade with hard-to-reach populations, including substance users, to improve outcomes of those infected with HIV and to prevent infection with those at risk. He is also interested in the translation of research findings into practice and policy. His international work includes collaborations in the countries of Georgia, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Mexico, Kenya, and Thailand. He has also worked on emerging infections such as pandemic influenza and was a member of the WHO Influenza A(H1N1) Clinical Advisory Group and of the CDC Influenza A(H1N1) Task Force during the 2009 pandemic.
Honors and Awards
Among Dr. del Rio’s many honors are the James H. Nakano Citation received in 2001 and awarded by the CDC for an outstanding scientific paper published in 2000; the Emory University Marion V. Creekmore Achievement Award for Internationalization; the Thomas Jefferson Award from Emory University, the highest award conferred by Emory to a faculty or staff member who has significantly enriched the intellectual and civic life of the Emory community; the Ohtli Award from the Government of Mexico for work that benefits communities of Mexican origin living in the U.S.; the APHA Award for Excellence in Public Health; and the MAP International Bill Foege Global Health Award. He was selected by the “Atlanta Magazine” as one of the 55 most influential foreign-born Atlantans in 2007. In 2013, Dr. del Rio was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, and in 2020 was elected as Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Medicine.
In 2021, Dr. del Rio was recognized by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as a “Great Immigrant, Great American” and by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms with the Phoenix Award, the City of Atlanta’s highest honor, for his medical guidance and support during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, he was named among Georgia Trend's 500 Most Influential Leaders in Healthcare for his decades of patient care, infectious disease and global health research, medical education, and healthcare administration.
Professional Affiliations
Dr. del Rio is a Member of the Board of Directors of the International Antiviral Society-USA (IAS-USA) and of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and is the immediate past president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). He was a Board member and Chair of HIVMA of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). He also chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of PEPFAR and is a member of the UNAIDS Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee.