About Us

"A Chance to be Part of the Solution"

UW Positive Research is an Organized Research Unit within the University of Washington. UW Positive Research (UWPR) aims to conduct rigorous human-centered research focused on HIV treatment, HIV remission/cure, and comorbidities associated with HIV.

We partner with patients and providers throughout UW, along with other collaborating institutions and community-based organizations, emphasizing the participation of marginalized communities such as gender-diverse and BIPOC populations in our work at all levels. Our work is guided by local and global Community Advisory Board (CAB) input; the CABs are mainly comprised of people living with HIV or from populations impacted by HIV around the region.

Together with the Seattle Vaccine Trials Unit (VTU), we comprise Seattle’s NIH-funded HIV clinical trials sites but are in separate facilities- UWPR at Harborview, and the VTU in UW-leased space in Cabrini Medical Tower.

Our Story

As a research unit, we are committed to science, inclusion, diversity, and meeting our community’s needs—and we would like our name to honor those commitments while upholding our collective history. We also want our name to reflect the language people use to tell their own stories about HIV, as well as the current scope of our work which has now expanded to include research on hepatitis, other sexually transmitted infections, addictions, comorbidities experienced by people with HIV, and COVID-19 treatments.

When the UW ACTU was established in 1987 at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, very little was known about AIDS or its cause. In the four decades since, science and public opinion have seen a considerable shift in their understanding of HIV and AIDS. People with HIV who are diagnosed early, connected with care, and start on antiretroviral therapy can achieve life-long viral suppression that prevents transmission of the virus to others; many people with HIV now have never had nor will ever be diagnosed with AIDS.

As science has advanced over time, the language we use to describe HIV has also changed. We hope our new name mirrors the language that many people with HIV or Positive folx use to describe themselves. Our aim is also to better welcome a broader group of research participants in our work, including younger people, gender diverse people, and people of color, and we believe that a name change is one part of achieving that goal.

We conducted a preliminary survey to our Community Advisory Board (CAB), asking for words and values that they would like to see reflected in our new name, followed by a CAB meeting sharing the results of that survey, getting feedback, and closing in on some ideas. We requested additional feedback on the proposed new name with a follow-up survey sent to our CAB and posted on our social media pages, through which we received broad support for our new name, UW Positive Research.

The result is a name that we’re proud of, that reflects the work that we’re doing now, and still resonates with our community members. We are excited to include you in research at UW Positive Research, where our mission is to conduct rigorous human-centered research with the overarching goal of improving the medical care and advancing science for People with HIV. Our research efforts are directed by cutting-edge science and guidance by our local Community Advisory Board. Our goal is to conduct high quality research focused, but not exclusively, on HIV treatment, HIV remission, and comorbidities and co-infections associated with HIV. As a research participant, you are key to helping advance science for others living with or at risk of HIV.

Thank you for continuing to make a Positive impact with us.

As a reassurance, while the signage in the hospital and on our forms is changing, please note that you can continue to reach us at the same location: 2 West Clinic, Harborview Medical Center. Our screening/text phone number remains 206 773-7129

Ann Collier, MD

Director Emerita

Born in Michigan, Dr. Collier attended Wellesley College for her undergraduate education and completed her degree at Dartmouth Medical School. She went on to intern at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill before finishing her medical residency and infectious disease fellowship at the University of Washington. In 1981, Dr. Collier saw her first AIDS patient in New Hampshire, who she assumed to be her last; she never thought she would see another patient the same symptoms. When Dr. Collier moved out to Seattle to complete her fellowship, she started to see an increasing number of patients with AIDS-related symptoms. From then on, she felt compelled to devoting her work to increasing the quality of treatments so that patients with this newly discovered disease could live their life with ease. Dr. Collier moved into research and helped start the UW AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU) in 1987. Her motivation to better the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS can be seen in the various articles, journals, and studies she has authored. Seeing the feedback loop that starts from her work and is then seen in a patient’s progression keeps her in this particular field of research. Dr. Collier is a Professor at the UW School of Medicine and serves as the Director Emerita of UW Positive Research.

Meet The Team

Rachel Bender-Ignacio, MD, MPH

Director

Rachel Bender Ignacio is an infectious disease physician-scientist and the Director of UW Positive Research. She completed medical school and an MPH in epidemiology at the UW. She trained in Internal Medicine at Mass General Hospital/Harvard and briefly held a faculty appointment there prior to returning to UW for Infectious Diseases fellowship. She has been conducting HIV research since 2005, and has worked with partners across in several countries in Latin America, Africa, and in India. The majority of her patient care and research has been focused on the intersection of co-infections, immune activation, and HIV outcomes, and cancer. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has also taken on significant leadership on COVID-19 treatment research, also serving as the Medical Director of the COVID-19 Clinical Research Center at the Fred Hutch. She is a Director on the HIV Medicine Association Board.

Chris Jonsson

Program Manager

Raised south of Seattle in Portland, Oregon, Chris started working at Harborview five day after she graduated high school in 1998. A few months later she started at the ACTU four days before she turned 18. During high school, Chris often volunteered in the Madison Clinic helping her mom who was the dietician as well as pharmacy and the front desk. During her time as a volunteer, Chris witnessed the announcement of the first protease inhibitor results at a Madison Clinic community meeting, and it was there when she fell in love with the mood and energy that circulated throughout the room. Although Chris has always been interested in the science behind HIV/AIDS research and enjoys hearing early information released in the clinic, her true passion is in business. She has recently graduated from Seattle University with a Healthcare Executive MBA, Chris runs the business end of UW Positive Research as the Clinic Manager, working on the grants, budgets, regulatory information, data, and helps coordinate the clinic’s staff.

Katrina Puckett

Regulator Coordinator and Lead Pharmacy Technician

A lifelong Seattle-ite, Katrina works at UW Positive Research as the Lead Pharmacy Technician and an Investigational Pharmacy Technician. She started working in Harborview’s pharmaceutical department in 1991 and, after two years, was recruited by her supervisor for an opening at the ACTU pharmacy. She turned down the job at first but her keen interest in research reminded her that this was a prime opportunity. Katrina accepted the job in ’93 when only two anti-retroviral therapy treatments were on the market. She has steadily seen new drugs come through her pharmacy and help better the health of patients. Since she has started, Katrina has been a valued member of the team and was sent to Peru to oversee the opening of a clinic pharmacy. She is motivated by her co-workers and the progress she has seen over her career in AIDS research.

Eli P. Burnham, PA-C

Research Clinician

Clay Youngblood, BSN, RN

Research Nurse

Hello, my name is Claborne, but please call me Clay. I have been an RN since 2006 and I am originally from Dallas, Texas, but have called Seattle/King County home for the past 11 years. I have worked in many areas of nursing including surgery, gastroenterology, HIV and infectious disease, healthcare in housing for the DESC and most recently COVID and HIV research at UW Positive Research. I also have a masters from the School of Public Health from the University of Washington in information management and informatics.

Phoebe Bryson-Cahn

Research Clinician

Raised south of Seattle in Portland, Oregon, Chris started working at Harborview five day after she graduated high school in 1998. A few months later she started at the ACTU four days before she turned 18. During high school, Chris often volunteered in the Madison Clinic helping her mom who was the dietician as well as pharmacy and the front desk. During her time as a volunteer, Chris witnessed the announcement of the first protease inhibitor results at a Madison Clinic community meeting, and it was there when she fell in love with the mood and energy that circulated throughout the room. Although Chris has always been interested in the science behind HIV/AIDS research and enjoys hearing early information released in the clinic, her true passion is in business. She has recently graduated from Seattle University with a Healthcare Executive MBA, Chris runs the business end of UW Positive Research as the Clinic Manager, working on the grants, budgets, regulatory information, data, and helps coordinate the clinic’s staff.

Sher Storey, PA-C

Research Clinician

Janine Maenza, MD

Principle Investigator and Research Clinician

Janine Maenza is an infectious disease physician who has spent her career working in HIV clinical research. She completed infectious disease fellowship training at Johns Hopkins, where she then remained on faculty providing HIV clinical care and working at the Hopkins ACTU. She moved to Seattle in 1999, focusing her work on acute HIV at the Primary Infection Clinic, and continuing to work on ACTG studies. She currently serves as the medical director of the Seattle HIV Vaccine Trials Unit and as a staff physician at UWPR, with a specific focus on studies of acute infection and HIV eradication.

Gabby Wood

Research Coordinator

Raised south of Seattle in Portland, Oregon, Chris started working at Harborview five day after she graduated high school in 1998. A few months later she started at the ACTU four days before she turned 18. During high school, Chris often volunteered in the Madison Clinic helping her mom who was the dietician as well as pharmacy and the front desk. During her time as a volunteer, Chris witnessed the announcement of the first protease inhibitor results at a Madison Clinic community meeting, and it was there when she fell in love with the mood and energy that circulated throughout the room. Although Chris has always been interested in the science behind HIV/AIDS research and enjoys hearing early information released in the clinic, her true passion is in business. She has recently graduated from Seattle University with a Healthcare Executive MBA, Chris runs the business end of UW Positive Research as the Clinic Manager, working on the grants, budgets, regulatory information, data, and helps coordinate the clinic’s staff.

Ally Angeldekao

Research Coordinator

Allysson, pronouns she/they, received a Masters of Public Health in Public Health Practice at the Oregon Health and Science University and Portland State University (OHSU-PSU) duel program. There, she helped organize the Department of Social Justice as a graduate research assistant for the Anti-Racism Initiative. They previously attended PSU for a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Chemistry where she worked as a health educator at the student health center and aided in the development of the traveling health information hut and the health and wellness podcast. With experience ranging from community advisory boards to national campaigns, Allysson is passionate about health equity, community development, preventative healthcare, and resiliency among low-income B/IPoC (Black, and/or Indigenous, and People of Color) populations. Allysson’s research experience primarily focuses on health equity for low-income families, and developing and accessing anti-racist, multicultural, and accessibility initiatives to provide historically marginalized communities with safe and quality health resources.

Meredith Potochnic

Pharmacist of Record

Meredith has worked in the ACTU pharmacy since 1997. During her residency at John Hopkins University, Meredith developed an interest in HIV care and investigational drugs. In her training, she was working with early studies looking at AZT as a means to treat HIV. Meredith stayed at John Hopkins to work with investigational drugs and HIV for a few years then decided it was time for a new city with both opportunities and a rock music scene. Meredith moved to Seattle and found her job here as a Pharmacist of Record. Working as a pharmacist for both UW Positive Research and the Madison Clinic, Meredith gets to see strides forward in HIV/AIDS treatment. To Meredith, it is a privilege to be a part of someone’s care and to try to find answers to questions unsolved. Working in an environment where people truly care about the well-being of their patients is also a big bonus for Meredith.

Ji Eun Lee, Pharm.D., BCPS

Pharmacist

Ji is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy and a Clinical Pharmacist at the Madison Clinic, Harborview Medical Center. She graduated from University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy. She has worked at Madison Clinic since 2005 and joined the VTU in 2017.

Nate Gebremariam, MPH

Research Coordinator

Tanya Jacobs, Ph.T

Pharmacy Technician

Jordan G Graff, MPH

Regulatory Coordinator

Jordan G. Graff is the Research Program Manager at the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Translational Research Subcore (TRS) as well as a Regulatory Coordinator for UW Positive Research (formerly the ACTU). CFAR TRS is in Harborview Medical Center’s 2 West Clinic where the Madison Clinic and AIDS Clinical Trials Unit are housed. He helps investigators by promoting translational HIV research using the HIV Specimen Repository, which contain plasma, serum and PBMC specimens linked to extensive clinical data. He also supports the screening and recruitment of HIV positive patients (or HIV negative controls) into clinical, laboratory and socio-behavioral studies through a dedicated research nurse. Core duties include program, team, and budget management as well as coordination of regulatory tasks through human subjects research applications and reports.

Jordan received his MPH from the University of Iowa with a departmental focus on Community and Behavioral Health and a BA in Global Health. His professional experience includes working with diverse populations, qualitative research, data analysis, health behavior, implementation analysis, and state level evaluation research. Outside of work he enjoys spending time with family and friends, hiking, and astronomy.

About Us

Our Story

Ann Collier, MD

Meet The Team

Our Clients

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