Elaine O'Keefe (pictured left) has stepped down as Executive Director of CIRA after eleven years with the Center. Elaine joined CIRA in 2008 as CIRA's first Executive Director. During her tenure, CIRA successfully competed for renewal funding from NIMH in 2012 and again in 2017. Implementation science became a focus of CIRA activities and it established a regional Network that brought together an unprecedented number of researchers and HIV service providers from across New England to improve the implementation and outcome of HIV prevention and care efforts in communities with high HIV prevalence. HIV training opportunities at CIRA expanded with the creation of the NIMH funded Research Education Institute for Diverse Scholars (REIDS), a program that O'Keefe co-founded. REIDS has helped launch the distinguished HIV research careers of 25 scholars from diverse disciplines and racial/ethnic backgrounds. Over the course of her extensive public health career Elaine has devoted over 20 years to preventing, and ameliorating the effects of, HIV infection. She was a key figure in the development of vital HIV prevention and care interventions and policies in New Haven and CT in the early days of the epidemic. Those included the prototype New Haven Needle Exchange Program that was launched in 1990 and the corresponding evaluation study by Yale scientists Ed Kaplan and Robert Heimer that paved the way for the establishment of syringe exchange services in other parts of CT and the nation. Throughout her distinguished career, Elaine has worked tirelessly to improve the health of individuals in local and regional communities. Her innovative dedicated efforts to address major health issues, such as reducing the impact of HIV infection, have created a legacy that will continue to inspire colleagues as CIRA continues this important work.
CIRA welcomes its new Executive Director, Sharon Mierzwa (pictured right), who joined the leadership team on July 29, 2019. Sharon is an accomplished public health professional with extensive experience developing and executing public health projects and initiatives, procuring and managing grants, leading comprehensive strategic planning efforts, and conducting outcomes evaluations. She has worked at both the local and state level including positions with the CT Dept of Public Health, the CT Association of Directors of Health, the Governor's Prevention Partnership, and as the regional manager of an innovative American Heart Association/CDC collaborative that entailed building community capacity for systems, policy and environmental improvements to address health inequities related to chronic disease in Hartford and New Haven. As Executive Director, Sharon will manage overall operations and fiscal matters for CIRA, facilitate strategic planning, evaluate Center services and impact, foster ongoing and new CIRA collaborations and support the Center's myriad of program and fund development activities. We look forward to continuing CIRA's important work with Sharon's guidance.
Published: Tuesday, August 13, 2019
