Jeffrey Birnbaum, MD, MPH

Dr. Birnbaum is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. He is the Principal Investigator and Executive Director of Health & Education Alternatives for Teens (“HEAT”). Dr. Birnbaum is an adolescent medicine specialist and Board-certified pediatrician who has focused most of his professional career working with HIV-infected youth. He has provided medical care to hundreds of HIV-infected youth ages 13-24 at HEAT since 1992. In addition to his clinical work at HEAT, he devotes much of his time to community mobilization efforts to identify and engage HIV+ youth in care and high-risk HIV- youth in PrEP services. Dr. Birnbaum has served as a Board member for the SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University HIV Center for Women and Children and Institutional Review Board.

He has served as liaison to the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute’s Pediatric/Adolescent Ambulatory Care Guidelines Committee, which sets standards for HIV testing and medical care for HIV-infected children and adolescents in New York State. Dr. Birnbaum has pioneered efforts in Brooklyn to engage young gay, bisexual males, and transgender youth from communities of color in medical care, prevention activities, and HIV counseling and testing efforts. These efforts have brought access to research, care, and services for a marginalized population that typically avoids medical providers due to stigma, fear, lack of insurance, and lack of knowledge about HIV. He has lectured widely on issues relating to HIV/AIDS and adolescents in the USA and abroad. His overseas HIV technical assistance work has been conducted in Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia, and Nigeria. He has also served as a consultant to the World Health Organization and UNICEF in developing guidelines for service development for HIV-infected adolescents and young adults in resource-poor countries.

Dr. Birnbaum’s work with HEAT has been recognized with several prominent awards., Dr. Birnbaum accepted an award from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on World AIDs in 2009, recognizing HEAT’s outstanding work with HIV+ adolescents in New York City. In December 2012, also commemorating Worlds AIDS Day, Dr. Birnbaum received the Linda Laubenstein Award for Excellence in HIV Care from the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute. And in 2013, Dr. Birnbaum received the SUNY Chancellor’s Excellence in Professional Service Award.  

• Principal Investigator, Jeffrey Birnbaum, Ryan White Title IV/Health Resources and Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services "Coordinated HIV Services and Access to Research for Women, Infants, Children and their Families Initiative". 2006-present
• Principal Investigator, Jeffery Birnbaum, Ryan White Title IV/Health Resources and Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services "Youth Services Initiative". 2001-present
• Principal Investigator, Jeffrey Birnbaum, "Specialized Care Center for HIV Positive Adolescents", AIDS Institute, Department of Health, State of New York. 2000-present
• Principal Investigator, Jeffrey Birnbaum, Longitudinal Epidemiologic Study to Gain Insight into HIV and AIDS in Children and Youth (LEGACY), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA/WERSTAT 2005-present
• Principal Investigator, Jeffrey Birnbaum, "HIV Planning Grant", Ryan White Title III/Health Resources and Services Administration, US Dep't of Health and Human Services 2003-2002
• Principal Investigator, Jeffrey Birnbaum, "Natural History of HIV disease specific to an Adolescent Population, Adolescent Medicine HIV and AIDS Research Network, national Institutes of Health. 2001-1997
• "Adolescent Medicine HIV and AIDS Research Network": Jeffrey Birnbaum, Study of natural history of HIV disease specific to an adolescent population; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. 1997-2001
• Eastwood EA, Birnbaum JM. Physical and Sexual Abuse and Unstable Housing among Adolescents with HIV. AIDS & Behavior. 2007 (currently in press, accepted lst draft March 2007)
• Rotheram-Borus MJ, Lee MB, Murphy DA, Futterman D, Duan N, Birnbaum JM, Lightfoot M. Efficacy of a Preventative Intervention for Youths Living with HIV. Am J Public Health. 2001 March;91 (3):400-5.
• Rotheram-Borus MJ, Lee M, Zhou S, O'Hara P, Birnbaum JM, Swendeman D, et al. Variation in health and risk behavior among youth living with HIV. AIDS Educ Prev 2001 Feb;13(1):42-54.