Dawn Averitt

Dawn Averitt is a strategist and consultant for private, nonprofit and public sector clients seeking vision, innovation, and leadership. Dawn has worked extensively with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, governments, NGO’s, and academic centers to develop programs to increase awareness, accelerate testing, provide access to treatment, disseminate information and expand clinical trials, primarily focused on HIV and AIDS.

Dawn is the Founder and Emeritus Board member of The Well Project (www.thewellproject.org), a nonprofit organization formed in 2002 to improve the lives of women living with HIV and AIDS. The Well Project’s mission is to change the course of the AIDS pandemic through a comprehensive focus on treatment and prevention for women. Dawn launched a think tank in 2003 called the Women’s Research Initiative on HIV/AIDS (WRI) which drives “more, better, faster” research in women and has been responsible for many notable achievements such as facilitating the GRACE Study, building trial network collaborations, guiding FDA labeling decisions, and shaping research and policy priorities at the NIH.

Dawn’s numerous board and panel affiliations range from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Panels to several National Institutes of Health (NIH) Working Groups. Dawn served as a member of the Perinatal HIV Guidelines Committee from 2007-2012, as well as the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council (OARAC) from 2008-2012. Dawn also served two terms on the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) from 2010-2015. She has served on the organizing and planning committees of several important scientific conferences, including the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, the International AIDS Conference, and the National Women and HIV Conference. In addition, Dawn is a founding member and advisor to the Positive Women’s Network (PWN). She is a fierce advocate for the engagement of women in leadership roles in the HIV arena.

Dawn is a frequent speaker in corporate boardrooms, at national and international conferences and at major universities. In addition to her TedX, Dawn has been featured in the media including CNN International, the CBS Evening News, and many print publications. Dawn is a recipient of several awards including the Women Leading Global Change award from the World YWCA for her leadership in the HIV and AIDS pandemic and in 2010 was named one of the top 100 most influential AIDS activists by POZ magazine. Dawn has had a front row seat to the evolution of both the HIV epidemic/pandemic, and the movement in the fight against HIV for more than three decades.