Dr. Ryan Westergaard is a faculty member of the Division of Infectious Disease within the Department of Medicine. He is a member of numerous professional societies, including Physicians for Human Rights, the Infectious Disease Society of America, the American College of Physicians, the International AIDS Society, and the Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health. In addition to his service at UW, he is the Chief Medical Officer and State Epidemiologist for Communicable Diseases for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. In this role, Dr. Westergaard provides expert medical and public health guidance to ensure that health policies, practices, and programming in the state of Wisconsin align with sound public health principles and priorities. Dr. Westergaard aims to build bridges between the scientific and educational missions of the University and the public health mission of state, local and tribal health departments, seeking to leverage UW resources for the benefit of the health of all Wisconsin residents.
Dr. Westergaard’s clinical interests focus on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV).
Dr. Westergaard's research supports the mission to reduce suffering from HIV, viral hepatitis, and substance use disorders for underserved populations, focusing on how social and economic barriers impact infectious disease. Recent projects assess the feasibility and effect of implementing novel mobile health applications and care models on health outcomes for people who inject drugs, have been incarcerated, or are living with HIV, HCV, or a substance use disorder. His research collaborations involve colleagues from diverse disciplines including infectious diseases, epidemiology, engineering, and behavioral sciences, addressing complex social determinants of health that affect disadvantaged populations.
Dr. Westergaard has received numerous awards for his research, including a K23 Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award, HIV Medical Association Investigator Award, Infectious Disease Society of America, NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, Avenir Program for Research on Substance Abuse and HIV/AIDS, and was named an Inaugural Fellow of Center for Collaborative Health Equity at the University of Wisconsin. He has served on numerous NIH special emphasis panels for areas relating to HIV/AIDS and high-risk, underserved populations.