Dr. Deborah Cotton is Professor of Medicine Emerita at the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. She received her MD from Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine in 1976, an MPH in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 1985, and an MA in the History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2022. Dr. Cotton is a Deputy Editor of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

After internship and residency in internal medicine at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston from 1976 to 1978, Dr. Cotton was a Clinical Associate in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, NIAID, NIH from 1978-1982 and a Lt. Commander in the United States Public Health Service. She was a Senior Staff Fellow in the National Cancer Institute from 1982-1984.

Returning to Boston, Dr. Cotton became the first Clinical Director for AIDS at the Beth Israel Hospital in 1986 and was on the faculty there until 1993 when she moved to the Infectious Diseases Section of the Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital. She held joint appointments at the Harvard Medical School and Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Cotton was recruited to the Boston University Medical Campus in 1998 to serve as the inaugural Assistant Provost for Clinical Research and Director of the Office of Clinical Research, Professor of Medicine, Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, and Professor of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health. From 2000-2004 she served as Chief, Medical Service, VA Boston Healthcare System and Vice-Chair for Veteran’s Affairs, BUSM Department of Medicine. From 2007-2009 she was the Chief Medical Officer of the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI). Dr. Cotton has remained an active clinician and clinical investigator throughout her career. Her research has focused on the clinical epidemiology of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases.

Dr. Cotton has served on numerous national committees including the FDA Antiviral Advisory Committee (Member and Chair), the Board on Health Sciences Policy of the Institute of Medicine, the NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council and the NIH AIDS Clinical Epidemiology Study Section (ACE).

She is a past member and chair of the National and Global Public Health Committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and a past member of the IDSA Center for Global Health Scientific Advisory Committee. From 2013-2016 she served on the IDSA Board of Directors.