Bernard M. Branson MD

Dr. Branson has been a persuasive behind-the-scenes architect of public HIV prevention and testing policies in the US, Caribbean, and Central America for more than 30 years. He is perhaps best known as the lead author of CDC’s 2006 recommendations for HIV screening in health care settings and, most recently, the June 2014 HIV testing recommendations that updated the US laboratory HIV testing algorithm for the first time in 25 years. ,br/>
Dr. Branson has extensive experience as a clinician, advocate, community organizer, infectious disease specialist, and clinical virologist. He has been involved with HIV testing for more than 30 years. Dr. Branson joined the CDC in 1990 and served as Associate Director for Laboratory Diagnostics in CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention for eight years prior to his retirement. Since then, Dr. Branson has provided expert consultation, developed continuing medical education activities, and devoted his efforts to promoting the adoption of biomedical interventions (such as treatment to achieve HIV viral suppression and pre-exposure prophylaxis) that hold promise for bringing an end to the scourge of HIV.

Dr. Branson earned an MD from Northwestern University in Chicago. Post-graduate studies include an internship and a residency in Medicine and Pediatrics at North Carolina Memorial Hospital at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Clinical Management Program, Department of Health and Human Services, Tri-Regional Training Center in Brooklyn, New York.