DR. Cedric Pulliam, PhD
After serving nearly 13 years as a public servant in the U.S. federal government with a focus on foreign diplomacy, global and public health (HIV), global human rights and gender equality, international development, and multilateral diplomacy – he has rooted his federal career in the objectives of access, community, diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout his work. He values the role of community, ensuring their voices are heard and seen within policies and programs, and continues to volunteer within the public health corps within his local community - the epitome of a community-oriented public health practitioner.
Most recently, Cedric has served at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as the Senior Advisor for the Chief Medical Officer for the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy. He also served at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as a Senior Public Health Advisor and Project Officer in the Division of HIV Prevention. While at the U.S. Department of State, he served as the Senior Human Rights and Key Populations Advisor as well as the Multilateral Diplomacy Officer for Partnerships at the Office of the US Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy, which is the office that executes and manages the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). His tenure at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) included serving as a Program Specialist in the Office of HIV/AIDS – Bureau for Global Health and Office of Donor Engagement – Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning.
Dr. Pulliam has also served at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Congressional Research Service, Federal Highway Administration, and the US Department of the Air Force. Cedric is a psychologist who practices within the healthcare systems and substance use fields. He founded CDP Consulting, LLC, which was started in 2014 to assist recent veterans in career and professional development and transitioned into a public health and health equity consultancy company in 2018. Through CDP Consulting, LLC, Dr. Pulliam provides health equity and patient advocacy consulting to several industry, government, and nonprofit entities within the Atopic Dermatitis, HIV, IBD and Crohn’s Disease communications, clinical research and patient access and quality of care.
In 2019, Cedric was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship by the Office of Minority Health at HHS as a Youth Health Equity Model of Practice Health Equity Fellow. He received several group Meritorious Honor Awards at USAID and the U.S. Department of State. Dr. Pulliam attended Elon University, obtained International Studies and Political Science bachelor’s degrees, and recognized with the 2022 Top 10 Under 10 Alumni and 2017 LGBTQIA Community Enrichment awards. Cedric received a 2012 full-tuition fellowship from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, where he obtained his first master’s degree in International Relations and European Studies. He went on to complete graduate studies at Georgetown University and George Mason University, focusing on International Development and Conflict Resolution, and completed his doctoral studies in Health and Medical Psychology with a focus on the Psychosocial and Sexual Effects of Young Men who have Sex with Men of Color who take PrEP and PEP ages 16-24 at Northcentral University.
Advocacy and community engagement are top priorities in Cedric’s career. Cedric co-founded the Ending Criminalization of HIV and Overincarceration in Virginia (ECHO VA) with Deirdre Johnson in 2018, where, alongside coalition members, partner organizations (Equality VA, Sero Project, and PWN-USA), and legislative champions, they were able to modernize the HIV criminalization law (infected sexual battery) in the Commonwealth of Virginia that was signed into law by former Governor Northam in 2021. He founded and served as the leader of the Regional HIV/AIDS Policy and Planning Summit for the DC metro area. Cedric was a founding steering committee member for the National Faith HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and continues to support this national awareness day effort (HIV.gov officially recognized this awareness day on August 6, 2020).
He currently serves as the Board Chair for Sister Love, Inc. and the Governance Committee Chair for the Board of Directors of TruEvolution, Inc. He also sits on the boards of Sister Love International South Africa, IBD Moms, Global Black Gay Men Connect, and the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) International Steering Committee.
Cedric serves on the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) Protocol Team and Community Strategy Group for HPTN 096 (Black MSM in the American South focused study with an integrated intervention strategy). He was honored by For(bes) the Culture as a 2022 Kings of Culture and recently inducted as a member into the black excellence society (bes) and ForbesBLK.
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