STD Prevention and Control Grant Extension

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced another 12-month extension to the Strengthening STD Prevention and Control for Health Departments (STD PCHD) grant. The extension will cover the period of March 1, 2026, through February 28, 2027.

The intent of the extension is to provide flat funding; however, future reductions in the award amount are possible depending on the outcome of federal budget negotiations in Congress. The STD PCHD grant funds STD prevention and surveillance activities in US state and city health departments.

HIV Care Services Coverage

Most staff and community partners are aware that Kimberly Scott has announced her retirement and will have went out on leave prior to her retirement date prior to this newsletter being distributed. Her official retirement announcement is included in this month’s edition.

While the director position for HIV Care Services is being recruited, please note that the following staff will be covering:

- Allison Green, Senior Program Advisor to Ryan White Part B (RWPB) will be the Acting Director for HIV Care Services. She can be reached at allison.green@vdh.virginia.gov or 804-864-8065
- Jonathan Albright, Grants Manager for RWBPB will serve as acting Program Director and Primary Investigator for RWPB. He can be reached at jonathan.albright@vdh.virginia.gov or 804-380-6445.
- As always, please continue to contact Kimberly Eley, Assistant Director for Medication Access, for any VA MAP needs. She can be reached at kimberly.eley@vdh.virginia.gov or 804-864-8018.

New Recombinant Mpox Strain Identified in England

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) identified a new recombinant mpox virus in English in December 2025 in an individual who had recently traveled to Asia. Genomic sequencing of the virus showed that the mpox genome contained elements of both clade Ib and clade IIb mpox.

This development is not surprising given that viruses evolve and highlights the importance of continued genomic surveillance.

Read the full statement from UKHSA.

A notice from the CDC went out to public health laboratories updating guidance for monkeypox virus testing protocol. People who have been exposed to mpox or who are at risk of exposure should receive the mpox vaccine.

In Virginia, 36 mpox cases were reported in 2025, compared to 27 in 2024, and 12 in 2023. Visit the VDH mpox website for data and other resources.

Public Hearing: HIV Care and Treatment Services

VDH invites the general public and those with vested interest in the HIV care and treatment services to discuss the impact of HIV in your communities. This includes people with lived experience, community advocates, medical and non-medical HIV care providers, etc.

This virtual public hearing will be held on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. through the Microsoft Teams platform. There is an option to call in by phone. You will need to register to attend the meeting.

If you would like to participate, please use the button below. After completing the registration, you will receive a confirmation to the email you provide. A separate email will be sent with the Microsoft Team meeting information including the dial-in option.

For more information, questions, or if you need help registering, please contact Ashley Yocum, Care Services Planner, at ashley.yocum@vdh.virginia.gov or (804) 864-7621.

MAAETC Preceptorship Clinical Scholars Program

The MidAtlantic AETC is offering a Preceptorship Clinical Scholars Program for the Spring/Summer of 2026. The virtual 2-day session will take place March 16 and 17. On-site learning will take place with MAAETC local partner sites and be coordinated with appropriate clinical preceptors.

Educational topics will include, but not be limited to:

- Initial patient encounters
- Antiretroviral prescribing
- Interactions between STIs and HIV
- Mpox
- Viral hepatitis
- Prevention strategies
- PrEP/PEP
- Co-morbidities
- Co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders
- Chronic disease management
- And more!

The program is intended for clinicians employed within the MidAtlantic region, particularly those involved in HIV testing, treatment, and supportive services. The training content has been tailored to address the educational needs of healthcare professionals in Virginia and other MidAtlantic states and territories.

Continuing education units are provided as long as the requirements of the activity are met.

Hepatitis C Virus Clearance Dashboard (2022-2023)

The Virginia Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Clearance Cascade is a framework to monitor how many people are tested for HCV, how many are infected, and how many are cured. The cascade was developed using CDC guidelines. To be included, a person had to have a positive hepatitis C test result from 2022 through 2023. Laboratory results were evaluated through 2024 to allow for enough time for people to get confirmatory HCV testing, establish hepatitis C care and treatment, to allow for post-treatment testing, and natural clearance of the virus. This dashboard will be updated annually.

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Retirement: Kimberly Scott

DDP bids a fond farewell to Kimberly Scott as she retires from her position as the Director of the HIV Care Services (HCS) unit. Kimberly joined VDH after serving as a Senior Program Officer for the National Academy of Sciences/Institute of Medicine in Washington D.C. She has worked in the health field for over 40 years, including VDH for over ten years. Kimberly served as the Assistant Director of HCS before becoming the Director in 2016. Under Kimberly’s direction, the HCS unit had historic client enrollment in health insurance coverage, the initiation of a rapid access pilot program to immediately provide antiretroviral therapy for people newly diagnosed with HIV, increased services for people with HIV at local health departments, and building and expanding telemedicine infrastructure for people with HIV to receive specialty care, thereby reducing patient appointment wait times from six months to two weeks in rural areas. Kimberly oversaw a team committed to serving people with HIV with a whole person-centered approach to help them start and stay in care. During her time at VDH, Kimberly and her team instituted Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) changes such as moving health insurance enrollment to an enrollment assistance provider, Benalytics, and transitioning medication pickups to Walgreens for easier client accessibility. Kimberly also collaborated on behalf of VDH with Washington D.C. and Maryland RWHAP programs on HIV service planning, funding allocations, and service delivery system strengthening for the “DMV” (DC, MD, and VA). She successfully did the same for RWHAP Part A in the Norfolk Transitional Grant Area (TGA). Kimberly will be missed by her colleagues, and patients will remember her as an advocate for the uninsured/underinsured and all those with HIV.

Kimberly’s retirement date is set for January 31, 2026, with her last working day on January 12. She wishes good health and happiness in her retirement.

Welcome

DDP welcomes Carlos Aleman Cortez to the Division! He is an Old Dominion University graduate student pursuing his MPH with a concentration in epidemiology. He will be working with HIV and Hepatitis Prevention as an intern while completing his practicum through April 2026. Carlos originally planned to pursue a career in nursing or as a physician assistant. However, after taking some courses on health research and epidemiology during his undergraduate studies at James Madison University, he developed a stronger interest in public health. Over the last four years, he’s worked at OrthoVirginia in Arlington as both a Medical Scribe and Medical Assistant. Although he values direct patient care, he has found that focusing on population and community health aligns more closely with his long-term interests. Through his graduate training, he has developed a strong interest in infectious and chronic disease surveillance and data analysis using statistical software such as SAS. He is eager to continue building skills and gain more hands-on, applied experience. He is also very interested in learning more about how public health programs are developed, implemented, and evaluated in practice. Carlos can be reached at carlos.alemancortez@vdh.virginia.gov.

Farewell

Hunter Newland, HIV Care Services Data Analyst, departed VDH on January 15, 2026. Hunter has been with the HCS team for the past two and half years and was extremely instrumental in building out what we now know as the HCS data team. She built and maintained countless dashboards and REDCap projects which have helped to drive the HCS data team's goals of automation and data modernization. In addition to that, she led the hiring and onboarding of UEA auditors, another project seeing recent success. She is extremely talented as it relates to the field of data analytics and epidemiology, but she has also taken our hearts with her kindness and desire to go the extra mile, even without being asked.

She will be missed dearly, but her colleagues are so happy to see her try something new with all the new tools she has acquired from the time spent with VA RWPB program. DDP and her HCS colleagues wish her the best in her future endeavors. While her position is being recruited, please contact Tinika McIntosh-Amouzouvi at tinika.mcintosh@vdh.virginia.gov or 804-864-7972.

DDP E-Bulletin: January 2026