Vignetta Charles, PhD

Dr. Vignetta Charles is chief executive officer at ETR (Education, Training, and Research), a nonprofit committed to advancing health equity globally through science-based products and services. Before she was appointed CEO, Vignetta was chief science officer at ETR, focused on unifying and translating ETR’s science-based approaches to training and research.

Vignetta’s principal goal is to advance equity-driven practices in all aspects of her work and life. She came to ETR from AIDS United, where she served as senior vice president. In this role, she guided strategic programming for the organization, garnered public and private resources for programs, led efforts to measure and document program outcomes, and developed an expanded portfolio on the translation of science to the community. Before her work at AIDS United, Vignetta developed and rigorously evaluated innovative, theory- and evidence-based sexual and reproductive health and HIV prevention programs. She has focused her professional work on issues that disproportionately impact politically disenfranchised communities.

Vignetta served on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS from 2014-2017, advising the White House and Health and Human Services on HIV/AIDS domestically and globally. She serves as the board president of BEAM (Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective) and board treasurer of The Well Project. Other work experience includes serving as the national health educator for the Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies, initiating a teen pregnancy prevention portfolio for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and coordinating HIV and pregnancy prevention programs in San Francisco and Oakland, California. She is an alumna of the University of California, Berkeley for undergraduate work, the Harvard School of Public Health for her master’s degree, and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health for her doctoral degree.