Dr. Sunanda Gaur is a Professor of Pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) specializing in Infectious Diseases. Working on Pediatric AIDS since 1983, Dr. Gaur has had a unique carrier bookended by two global pandemics, HIV and COVId-19. She served as the director of the Robert Wood Johnson AIDS Program for almost three decades and is considered a leading voice on Pediatric HIV in NJ serving as Chair of the Family-Centered HIV Care Network. She has overseen over 40 NIH sponsored HIV clinical trials and her team was the first to document child-to-child transmission of HIV.

In 2006, Dr. Gaur was appointed Director of Pediatric Clinical Research Center (PCRC) at RWJMS. Under her leadership the center has seen tremendous growth; the number of trials increasing from 1-2 /year to 30-40 trials/year. Subsequently, in 2016 she assumed directorship of the Adult CRC spearheading exponential growth in the number, diversity and complexity of clinical trials. Since 2018, Dr. Gaur is co-leading the Clinical Trials Office of the Rutgers NIH funded Clinical and Translational Science Award. Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CRC rapidly pivoted to activate a large number of COVID-19 studies including an 800-participant health care worker study, several COVID-19 therapeutic trials as well as the J&J and Pfizer vaccine trials.

Throughout her career, Dr. Gaur has received over 25 million dollars in grants, published over 75 papers, and has maintained a deep interest in health disparities as the founding director of the South Asian Total Health Initiative (SATHI), a Rutgers based community health research and outreach initiative founded in 2007.