Matthew M. Kavanagh

Matthew M. Kavanagh, PhD, directs the UNAIDS-Georgetown Collaborating Centre on HIV Policy and Inequality and Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health Policy & Politics at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and School of Health. He holds faculty appointments in global health and law. A political scientist by training, with a long history of work in global health policy and politics including time at the United Nations and various NGOs, his research and writing focuses on the intersection of law, politics, and health in low- and middle-income countries and the political impact of human and constitutional rights on population health.

From September 2021 to February 2023, Mr Kavanagh Deputy Director a.i. at the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) and Special advisor to UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima in creating the new Policy, Advocacy, and Knowledge branch at the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Most recently UNAIDS designated the Global Health Policy and Politics Initiative at Georgetown as a United Nations Collaborating Center to support and advance policy and laws impacting HIV/AIDS with the overarching goal of addressing the inequalities driving the pandemic. Matthew Kavanagh, PhD, director of the Global Health Policy and Politics Initiative at the O’Neill Institute, and assistant professor of global health in the School of Health, will spearhead the Collaborating Center.

A political scientist by training, with a long history in global health policy, he has lived and worked in North America, Africa, and Asia conducting research and supporting policy change. Prior to his academic positions, he led transnational policy efforts at NGOs focused on HIV and tuberculosis treatment, international trade, and water rights.