Dr. Mardge Cohen, the director of HIV research at Cook County Hospital, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, is the co-founder of the Chicago Women's AIDS Project and an outspoken advocate on behalf of HIV-positive women worldwide. Dr. Cohen has dedicated her life to helping women and girls affected by HIV and AIDS.

Twenty years ago, Dr. Cohen helped establish the Chicago Women's AIDS Project (CWAP). CWAP is the only Chicago community-based organization solely dedicated to HIV-infected women.

In addition to her work with CWAP, Dr. Cohen also helped found the Women and Children HIV Clinic at Chicago's Cook County Hospital in 1988. The clinic was the first comprehensive medical and psychological family-centered HIV program for women, their partners and their children in the country.

Dr. Cohen also worked to implement rapid HIV testing in labor and delivery rooms at birthing hospitals in Illinois in order to track and prevent pregnant women from passing the disease to their newborns.

In addition to her work in Chicago, Dr. Cohen works with HIV positive women in Rwanda through Women's Equity in Access to Care and Treatment for HIV (WE-ACTx). WE-ACTx provides HIV care to genocide and rape survivors, and has helped more than 1,300 women obtain access to HIV medication. It is estimated that more than 120,000 Rwandan women were infected with HIV during the Rwandan genocide. Dr. Cohen returns to Rwanda three times a year to work alongside local nurses and doctors.

Dr.Cohen is currently working on a National Institute of Health-funded study in Rwanda to determine the best course of treatment for women infected with HIV and AIDS.