A Foundation for the future of ID
The IDSA Foundation was established in 2002 with a clear mission: to support, magnify and fund the work of IDSA and its global community of members. The Foundation follows the Society’s strategic priorities, with a key focus on advancing inclusion, diversity, access and equity across all programs and initiatives — ensuring the field represents and responds to the diverse communities it serves.
Together, we’re solving the challenges of infectious diseases
- We’re protecting the health of humankind by growing a strong, diverse and valued workforce.
- We’re preventing the spread of misinformation by advancing trusted scientific knowledge.
- We’re preparing for future health crises by supporting research and reform.
Help fund solutions
From global inequity to global pandemics, and from HIV to antimicrobial resistance, infectious diseases are one of the greatest challenges facing our future. As a partner, you can invest in the solutions by providing programs, funding and grants to students and ID specialists.
Board of Directors
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Ronald G. Nahass, MD, MHCM, FIDSA
Chair, IDSA Foundation
Ronald G. Nahass, MD, MHCM, FIDSA, is the director of medical research for ID Care, the largest health care organization providing infectious diseases specialty services in New Jersey, with 100 clinicians practicing across more than 130 sites. Dr. Nahass has served IDSA as chair of the Quality Committee and served as a member of several other groups, including the Clinical Affairs Committee, the Value and Governance Task Force and the IDSA/American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Hepatitis C Guidelines Committee. He was awarded the Distinguished Physician Humanitarian Award in 2008 by the Princeton HealthCare System for his work with patients with HIV/AIDS and received IDSA’s Watanakunakorn Clinician Award in 2020.
Dr. Nahass is a clinical professor of medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and serves as a mentor for medical students in their patient-centered medical home experience and for clinical research. He is also a preceptor for the residents’ medical clinic and has received the Volunteer Faculty Award from RWJMS several times for his service and commitment to teaching.
Dr. Nahass is passionate about the value and importance of the infectious diseases specialty and the delivery of high-quality, cost-effective care to promote health. Throughout his career, he has been a leader and advocate of promoting these issues, not only as an engaged member of society and the community but also in numerous publications and public presentations. He looks forward to fostering and advancing the message of clinical excellence, collegiality, competitive compensation and career opportunities he has vigorously championed at ID Care.
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Wendy S. Armstrong, MD, FIDSA
Vice Chair, IDSA Foundation
Wendy S. Armstrong, MD, FIDSA, is an active clinician providing inpatient general and transplant ID care and outpatient HIV care. She has been part of the vibrant community of infectious diseases/HIV physicians for more than 25 years. Dr. Armstrong is head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and is a passionate advocate for addressing the ID/HIV workforce, including clinicians, educators, physician-scientists and public health experts.
She has actively participated in numerous Society committees and initiatives, working to develop programs and support policies that ensure access to high-quality health care for all patients. Her involvement includes significant contributions to the HIVMA Board of Directors, the IDSA Medical Education Community of Practice, the IDWeek Program Committee and other IDSA committees and task forces. She has played a pivotal role in collaborations that magnify the impact of IDSA and HIVMA. Dr. Armstrong’s dedication to her field has provided her with a professional home where she feels a strong sense of belonging.
She aims to implement the IDSA workforce strategy to support the current workforce, including advanced practice providers and international medical graduates, and to inspire trainees to enter the profession. She aims to address workload and compensation issues, strengthen the diversity of the membership, bolster pandemic preparedness (including addressing antimicrobial resistance) and work toward health care equity. Dr. Armstrong is determined to ensure that all members feel the same sense of community and belonging that she has experienced.
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Maximo O. Brito, MD, MPH, FIDSA
Secretary and Treasurer, IDSA Foundation
Maximo O. Brito, MD, MPH, FIDSA, is a professor of medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the chief of infectious diseases at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. He served as program director for the ID fellowship at the University of Illinois for over 10 years.
A member of the IDSA Board of Directors since 2021, Dr. Brito has also served on the HIVMA Clinical Fellowship Program Committee, the IDSA Global Health Committee and the Training Program Directors Committee. Dr. Brito specializes in the care of patients with infectious diseases, particularly individuals with or at risk of acquiring HIV. His current scholarly interests center around HIV prevention including rapid antiretroviral start and improving retention in care for people experiencing incarceration. Dr. Brito is committed to furthering IDSA’s national and global advocacy priorities for the ID field and patients, as well as contributing to IDSA’s education and mentoring initiatives. He is also eager to advance IDSA’s commitment to fostering a new generation of diverse health care workers and leaders.
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Rana Chakraborty, MD, DPhil, FIDSA
Director, IDSA Foundation
Rana Chakraborty, MD, DPhil, FIDSA, is a pediatric infectious diseases specialist and researcher with unique expertise in placental and fetal immunology. He studies the impact of maternal infection on exposed infants and characterizes and publishes about infection of trophoblasts, cord blood and placental macrophages with HIV, cytomegalovirus, Toxoplasma gondii, the Zika virus and SARS-CoV-2.
Dr. Chakraborty has also served as a leader in perinatal, pediatric and adolescent infectious diseases clinical trials, in medical education and in basic science research. His work has been supported by intramural funding and by extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health as a principal investigator in clinical and laboratory research, initially at the University of Oxford in England and currently at the Mayo Clinic.
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Jasmine R. Marcelin, MD, FIDSA, FACP
Director, IDSA Foundation
Jasmine R. Marcelin, MD, FIDSA, FACP, is a Caribbean native born on the island of Dominica. She is an associate professor of medicine/infectious diseases, co-director of digital innovation & social media strategy for the Division of Infectious Diseases, vice chair of belonging and community engagement in the Department of Internal Medicine and associate medical director of antimicrobial stewardship at University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Marcelin earned her medical degree from the American University of Antigua College of Medicine and completed her internal medicine and infectious diseases training at the Mayo Clinic before joining the Division of Infectious Diseases at UNMC in 2017.
Dr. Marcelin is a nationally and internationally recognized scholar whose work focuses on health equity in infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship, building and supporting a diverse health care workforce, and authentic community engagement. She was previously on the IDSA Board of Directors from 2020 to 2023 and was a founding member of IDSA’s Inclusion, Diversity, Access & Equity Committee.
