JENNIFER KATES, M.A., M.P.A.

Jennifer Kates is a Vice President and the Director of HIV Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit, private operating foundation.  Ms. Kates oversees all of the Foundation’s HIV/AIDS policy efforts, directing and conducting policy research and analysis focused on both the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and the epidemic within the United States.  These include analyses and studies of: key epidemic trends; access to care, treatment, and prevention, particularly for those who are most vulnerable; major care, treatment, prevention, and research programs; insurance coverage and financing; and public opinion about HIV/AIDS. 

Ms. Kates is involved in several international efforts designed to track global and domestic resource flows to fight the epidemic and is a recognized expert in this field.  She also works closely with the Foundation’s health journalism training programs and entertainment media partnerships on HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and internationally, with companies such as Viacom, BET, and MTV, providing data and expertise on content and program development.  In addition, Ms. Kates works on the Foundation’s broader global health projects, and was instrumental in designing and overseeing the development of www.globalhealthfacts.org, which provides the latest country-level data on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other key health and socio-economic indicators.  She regularly provides HIV/AIDS information to numerous external stakeholders including the news media, policymakers, and community members. 

Prior to joining the Foundation in 1998, Ms. Kates was a Senior Associate with The Lewin Group, a health care consulting firm, where she focused on HIV/AIDS policy, strategic planning/health systems analysis, and health care for vulnerable populations. Her clients included the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the New York State AIDS Institute, the Texas Department of Health, the New York City Department of Public Health, the Whitman Walker Clinic, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  Before that, Ms. Kates was the Director of the Office of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns at Princeton University.  She was also the Coordinator of Princeton University’s Alcohol and Other Drugs Peer Education Program. 

Ms. Kates is currently pursing her Doctorate in Public Policy from the George Washington University School of Public Policy and Public Administration.  She holds a Bachelors Degree in Political Science and Women’s Studies from Dartmouth College, a Masters Degree in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts, and a Masters Degree in Public Affairs, with a concentration in Demography, from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.  Ms. Kates has been working on HIV/AIDS issues for more than 15 years. 

August 2006