Dr. Michele Kipke is a Professor of Pediatrics and Population and Public Health Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine and Associate Vice President for Strategic Health Alliances in the Office of the Senior Vice President of Health Affairs at the University of Southern California (USC). In addition, she co-directs USC’s Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute. A nationally known public health researcher and policy expert, Dr. Kipke has been intimately involved in the HIV/AIDS epidemic since its onset in the U.S. in the mid-1980’s and has made significant scientific contributions to the field of HIV prevention since that time. Early in her career, she studied risk for HIV exposure among injection drug users, developed and conducted the first formal evaluation of an HIV prevention intervention for adolescents in Harlem, and evaluated one of the first needle exchange programs. During the past three decades, Dr. Kipke has conducted NIH-funded behavioral epidemiologic research with at-risk youth populations, as well as health services and health outcomes research to characterize inequities in health in diverse pediatric populations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Kipke has led a USC-wide effort, called VaccinateLA, which includes a digital and multi-media campaign, and community navigation services delivered to residents in low vaccination communities in Los Angeles County, as well as in 34 states throughout the United States. Through this effort, over 400,000 individuals have been vaccinated to date. Targeted public health interventions are also being developed to increase pediatric vaccinations. To date, Dr. Kipke has authored over 100 publications and lectured nationally and internationally.

Dr. Kipke currently serves as the Chair for NIH’s HIV/AIDS Intra- and Inter-personal Determinants and Behavioral Interventions Scientific Review Committee. She was elected to the Pediatric Society for Research and the American Pediatric Society, she has served in numerous national leadership roles and professional and advisory boards, and she has received countless awards, including USC’s highly esteemed Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship. In 2021 she was recognized by Los Angeles Business Journal as a Women of Influence in Healthcare.

Dr. Kipke received her doctorate from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and completed her postdoctoral training at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She served as the Director of the National Academies’ Board on Children, Youth and Families, and participated as a Fellow in the prestigious Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women (ELAM). Dr. Kipke has been an elected member of the South Pasadena Unified School District’s Governing Board since 2008 and served as School Board President in 2011, 2015, and 2020. Dr. Kipke has also served on other Boards and served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children in child protective care.