Rate My Professor Rachel Ignacio

Rachel Bender Ignacio is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington, where she also holds the Robert W. Anderson Endowed Chair. She serves as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the UW School of Public Health and holds an appointment as Associate Professor in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. Dr. Bender Ignacio earned her MD in Global Health from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2008 and her MPH in Epidemiology from the UW School of Public Health in 2014. She completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington.

Dr. Bender Ignacio is a physician scientist specializing in HIV clinical trials, clinical epidemiology, and translational research. As Director of UW Positive Research, a clinical research site affiliated with the AIDS Clinical Trials Group, she oversees numerous interventional studies on HIV therapeutics, remission and cure strategies, comorbidities, and co-infections. Her work also addresses HIV treatment and outcomes for individuals with cancer in East and Southern Africa, as well as immune responses to viral infections including COVID-19. She has served in leadership roles on multiple ACTG protocols and as Medical Director of the Fred Hutch COVID-19 Clinical Research Center. Her honors include the Fialkow Scholar Award in 2023, the Chair of Medicine Scholars Award in 2020, the CFAR New Investigator Award in 2018, and the CROI Young Investigator Award in 2015. Dr. Bender Ignacio maintains an active clinical practice as an attending physician at Harborview Medical Center and UW Medical Center, focusing on HIV care, HIV-associated cancers, and transplant infectious diseases.