Scott Mandel Director, HIV/AIDS Training Institute

Ever since 1992, when he was studying for his B.S. degree in microbiology, Scott has dedicated himself to the goal of preventing the spread of HIV. During his undergraduate years he served as a health educator for both the University of Rochester and AIDS Rochester, Inc., the area’s leading local AIDS services organization. After moving to NYC to pursue graduate work at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Scott was assistant research scientist at the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies of the NYS Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University. As part of his research he assessed the HIV risk-taking behaviors of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth, as well as that of serodiscordant couples with whom he also had the opportunity to facilitate communication-based HIV-prevention workshops.

Upon completion of his research and M.P.H. degree, Scott was employed by the Pediatric AIDS Unit of the NYC Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), where he developed city-level policies and trainings based on NYS confidentiality laws and NYS Office of Children and Family Services regulations for HIV risk assessment of youth in foster care. In shifting his focus exclusively to training, he joined CDHS in 2000. He now directs the Center’s HIV/AIDS Training Institute and provides HIV training to child welfare staff, foster/adoptive parents, and respite care providers across the state, in both traditional training settings and online. He also coordinates periodic HIV/AIDS seminar offerings and works with CDHS faculty partners to keep abreast of the latest research in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.