Wendy S. Armstrong, MD, FIDSA, head of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the University of Colorado Anschutz Department of Medicine, has been named president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), placing a CU Anschutz physician at the forefront of national efforts to address infectious disease threats, strengthen the workforce, and improve health care access.
Armstrong began her term on October 25, bringing years of clinical, educational, research, and advocacy experience to the leadership role. Her appointment comes at a pivotal time for infectious diseases, as clinicians confront rising antimicrobial resistance, challenges to public health, and persistent gaps in equitable access to care.
“Experts in infectious diseases are at the forefront of patient care, education, research, and public health,” Armstrong says. “I’m honored to work alongside leaders in infectious diseases during these important and consequential times to advocate for the infectious disease profession, patients, and research; address workforce and compensation issues; strengthen the diversity of the membership; bolster pandemic preparedness, including addressing antimicrobial resistance; and work toward health care equity.”
As president, Armstrong will help guide IDSA’s efforts to build a strong, diverse infectious diseases and HIV workforce, serve as a trusted source of evidence-based information, and strengthen the nation’s ability to prevent and respond to infectious disease threats.
Her priorities also include expanding the society’s reach beyond infectious disease physicians to encompass the broader community working in the field, including pharmacists, advanced practice providers, scientists, and public health professionals. She hopes to strengthen international collaboration and explore new approaches to developing clinical guidelines, including the use of artificial intelligence.
For Armstrong, these priorities reflect both the challenges facing the field and the opportunity to make a broader impact.
“There is a fundamental lack of understanding of what we do as ID specialists,” she says. “We evaluate complex multi-system disease and are experts at clinical reasoning. We develop system level interventions and policies that improve individual and population health.”
She also points to the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, which makes infections increasingly difficult to treat while limiting the effectiveness of existing medications.
Although antimicrobial stewardship programs and health care epidemiologists are working to identify and contain these threats, Armstrong says the broader medical community must support their efforts. That work is already happening within the CU Anschutz Department of Medicine. CU Anschutz infectious diseases specialists are advancing antimicrobial stewardship efforts, including initiatives to reduce the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and preserve their effectiveness.
The connection between national priorities and local expertise creates opportunities to show how the department’s work is helping address some of medicine’s most pressing challenges.
Armstrong’s leadership is also grounded in her longstanding commitment to HIV care and to serving vulnerable and historically underserved populations.
Before joining CU Anschutz, she spent years at Emory University working in the southern HIV epidemic. That experience continues to inform her work, including her focus on the complex health and social challenges that often intersect with HIV and other infectious diseases.
In the CU Anschutz Department of Medicine, the Division of Infectious Diseases is advancing this approach through the Colorado Poverty and Health initiative, which examines how conditions such as HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis C, homelessness, poverty, and addiction interact and affect health outcomes.
Rather than treating each condition in isolation, this approach considers how health care systems can better coordinate services and address the circumstances that influence a patient's overall health.
Armstrong sees opportunities to improve care by changing the structures and policies that create barriers to treatment, particularly for people who experience stigma or have difficulty accessing health services.
“We have made incredible advances in biomedical prevention and treatment,” she says. “What we still struggle with is equitable health outcomes.”
She hopes to help advance new models of care that improve access and outcomes for people with HIV and other complex health needs, with lessons that can extend to other areas of medicine.
For Mark Earnest, MD, PhD, interim chair of the Department of Medicine, Armstrong’s election reflects the impact of a physician whose career has been defined by service and a strong sense of purpose.
“In my experience, the most effective leaders are driven by a deep sense of mission. Wendy is that kind of leader,” Earnest says. “She has devoted her entire career to serving underserved populations. Her impact as a clinician, an educator, a scholar, and an advocate has been exceptional.”
Armstrong’s national leadership also creates an opportunity to elevate the expertise of faculty across the department, particularly as infectious diseases takes on an increasingly prominent role in conversations about public health, emerging threats, and evidence-based care.
“Wendy’s selection as IDSA President is a direct reflection of her outstanding reputation and the impact of her work,” Earnest says. “She’s earned that spotlight and we are fortunate that some of that light refracts back on the rest of us.”
Armstrong has been actively involved with IDSA for several years, including serving as chair of the HIV Medicine Association and participating in the society’s medical education community, IDWeek Program Committee, and other committees and task forces. Through these roles, she has helped develop programs and policies supporting access to high-quality health care.
As she begins her presidency, Armstrong is looking forward to working with IDSA’s new CEO, Jeanne Marrazzo, and colleagues across the country to navigate a period of significant change in medicine and public health.
For Armstrong, the opportunity is both professional and personal.
“I admire the values of my colleagues and know that my ID colleagues make me better as a human and as a doctor,” she says. “That’s really special and, as a result, it is particularly special to be in this leadership position.”
Her appointment brings that commitment to a national stage while creating new opportunities to highlight the people, research, and patient care advancing infectious diseases at the CU Anschutz School of Medicine.