DGHT’s HIV Care and Treatment Branch Chief Wins Samuel J. Heyman Award for Career Achievement

DGHT’s HIV Care and Treatment Branch Chief Wins Samuel J. Heyman Award for Career Achievement

CDC HIV Expert Wins Samuel J. Heyman Award for Career Achievement

Honored for building, expanding and improving the U.S.-led program that provides 
HIV treatment to more than 11 million people worldwide living with HIV

The Partnership for Public Service has named Tedd V. Ellerbrock, M.D., HIV Care and Treatment Branch Chief in CDC's Division of Global HIV & TB, the 2017 winner of the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal for Career Achievement in recognition of the vital role he has played in building, expanding and improving the U.S.-led program that provides life-saving HIV treatment to more than 11 million people living with HIV around the world. 

Each year, the Partnership for Public Service presents this prestigious award, known as “the Sammies,” to a small group of federal employees whose professional contributions exemplify the highest attributes of public service. The awards were presented September 27 at the organization’s annual gala in Washington, D.C.

Over the past 14 years, Dr. Tedd Ellerbrock has played a central role in the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in history.

“We are where we are today because of Dr. Tedd Ellerbrock and people like Tedd around the globe,” said Ambassador Deborah Birx, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. “He has worked tirelessly to help change the course of the pandemic.”

Launching PEPFAR in 2003, former President George W. Bush announced the U.S. Government’s commitment to put two million people living with HIV in resource-limited countries on antiretroviral treatment (ART). At the time, only 50,000 people in all of sub-Saharan Africa were on life-saving ART. This ambitious goal required a 40-fold increase in the number of people on treatment in just five years.

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Watch a video of Dr. Ellerbrock accepting the Career Achievement Medal.

Watch a video highlighting Dr. Ellerbrock's distinguished career.