Jennifer Kates

Background and Education

Jennifer Kates is Vice President and Director of Global Health & HIV Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. She oversees the Foundation''s policy analysis and research focused on the US government''s role in global health and on the global and domestic HIV epidemics. Widely regarded as an expert in the field, she regularly publishes and presents on global health issues and is particularly known for her work analyzing donor government investments in global health; assessing and mapping the US government''s global health architecture, programs, and funding; and tracking key trends in the HIV epidemic, an area she has been working in for more than twenty years. Prior to joining the foundation in 1998, Dr. Kates was a Senior Associate with the Lewin Group, a health care consulting firm, where she focused on HIV policy, strategic planning/health systems analysis, and health care for vulnerable populations. Prior to that, she directed the Office of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns at Princeton University. Dr. Kates serves on numerous federal and private sector advisory committees on global health and HIV/AIDS issues.  Currently, she serves on the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Congressionally-mandated evaluation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and on an IOM committee commissioned by the White House to identify core indicators for assessing the impact of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on HIV/AIDS care in the United States. Dr. Kates received her PhD in Health Policy from George Washington University, where she is also a lecturer. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts.