1987-2026
With profound sadness, we share the news of the unexpected passing of our colleague, Lauren Collins, MD, MSc, Associate Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases (ID) and the Grady Health System’s Ponce de Leon Center. Dr. Collins began her career at Emory as an ID fellow in 2017. Through caring for patients in the hospital and at the Ponce Center, she formed deep and lasting relationships, which motivated her work. This commitment was beautifully reflected in her personal essay on the ongoing HIV epidemic in the South, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine while she was an ID fellow. As she transitioned to faculty in 2020, Dr. Collins published a series of landmark studies focused on understanding aging-related comorbidities – particularly among women – with the goal of mitigating their impact and promoting healthy aging in people with HIV.
Guided by her devotion to her patients, Dr. Collins founded the long-acting injectable antiretroviral program at the Ponce Center. In outlining her vision for the program, she bolded three words – equitable, interprofessional, collaborative – values that continue to define the program today and have helped it become a national model. Her research program grew and flourished as she sought to understand how the potential for transformation in care through injectable treatments could change the course of the HIV epidemic, especially for individuals for whom oral therapies had previously fallen short.
Within Emory’s RHYTHM research team and across a wide national network of collaborators, Dr. Collins was known as a remarkable scientist, clinician, and colleague. Her intellectual rigor, compassion, and deep commitment to advancing collaborative research leave a lasting impression on all who had the privilege of working alongside her. She was a beloved mentor for students, residents, fellows, and staff. Her impact as a mentor is palpable within our division, as she also generously guided many faculty members as they navigated their own early career years.
Beyond her professional accomplishments, Dr. Collins was deeply intentional about relationships and connection. This was most evident in her love for her family, who brought her immense joy and whom she spoke of often – always eager to share new stories and photos. She had a rare ability to make people feel seen and valued, finding joy in learning about others beyond work. For many, her warmth, humor, and unmistakable laugh – echoing through the halls – will be among our most cherished memories of her.
Dr. Collins will be remembered within the Ponce Center and across Emory for her extraordinary kindness, fierce devotion to her patients, advocacy for programs that served them, and her remarkable ability to bring people together. She was a shining light whose scientific contributions will have a lasting impact. She will be deeply missed.