Skip to main content

Overview


Dr. Jirair Ratevosian is a public health practitioner and global health policy expert based at the Duke Global Health Institute. His work sits at the intersection of data analysis, policy synthesis, and identifying pathways to expand equitable access to new health innovations.

Previously, Dr. Ratevosian served as Chief of Staff at the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), where he led major initiatives on health equity, global health security, and multilateral financing, including U.S. engagement with the Global Fund. Earlier in his career, he served as Legislative Director in the U.S. House of Representatives, advancing health and foreign policy priorities, and as an executive director within a multinational biopharmaceutical company, where he led access and partnership strategies focused on low- and middle-income countries. He has also held research appointments at Yale University and currently serves as a Senior External Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Dr. Ratevosian’s research focuses on the intersection of HIV, health systems, and global health governance, with particular attention to equity, sustainability, and implementation at scale. His current areas of interest include:

  • Integration of HIV services into primary health care and universal health coverage, with an emphasis on differentiated service delivery, sustainable financing, and health system resilience in low- and middle-income countries.
  • Implementation science for HIV prevention and treatment innovations, including PrEP scale-up, market incentives, and delivery models that improve equity and reach among underserved populations.
  • Health systems strengthening and global health governance, examining how financing structures, donor transitions, and policy decisions shape service delivery, sustainability, and population health outcomes.
  • Digital health and the responsible use of artificial intelligence in health systems, including applications for service delivery, data systems, and decision support, with attention to ethics, equity, and implementation at scale.
  • Structural, legal, and political determinants of health and development, analyzing how laws, rights, and governance influence access to care, social protection, and health equity across diseases and sectors.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Recent Publications


Strategic Litigation, Public Health, and the Decriminalization of Same-Sex Sexual Intimacy: Lessons From Legal Challenges Across Former British Colonies.

Journal Article Am J Public Health · August 2025 Consistent data have demonstrated the harms of punitive laws criminalizing same-sex sexual intimacy in the context of both public health and human rights. However, as of January 2025, 61 United Nations member states criminalize consensual same-sex sexual a ... Full text Link to item Cite
View All Publications