Stephen W Nicholas

I am the Associate Dean for Admissions at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, Director of the Columbia MD-MS Dual Degree Program with a Global Health Focus, and Founder and Director of the IFAP Global Health Program.

Most of my career has involved caring for HIV-infected children and advocating for the medically underserved in Harlem, Washington Heights, and the Dominican Republic, where my work has primarily taken place over the past 25 years. I have created a number of community-based educational experiences for medical and public health students and resident physicians. I was the director of pediatrics at Harlem Hospital Center from 2000-2006, during which time I started the Harlem Children's Zone Asthma Initiative.

In 1999, I started the Columbia University International Family AIDS Program (now renamed the IFAP Global Health Program), which introduced the first AIDS treatment for pregnant women (1999) and long-term AIDS care and treatment for families (2004) in the Dominican Republic. Today, its program in the province of La Romana has lowered the rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission to a rate comparable with New York's, and its clinic is one of the largest providers of care and treatment for children and adults in the Dominican Republic. It is also a popular site for health sciences student and resident training and education rotations.