In 2005, Grace Cathedral's Forum program erroneously listed Dr. Grant Colfax as "director" of HIV prevention at the San Francisco Department of Public Health when it invited the AIDS researcher to discuss what was driving the spread of HIV among young people.

It turned out to be divine foreshadowing as this week the health department announced it had selected the Harvard-educated doctor as its new HIV prevention director. Colfax will start September 4, ending a nearly two-year-long search to fill the position.

In announcing Colfax's hire, Deputy Director of Health Barbara Garcia noted that he "brings a high level of expertise in both prevention and substance abuse research."

Colfax, 42, has been with the AIDS Office for 10 years, and has most recently served as co-director of the HIV Epidemiology Section. Colfax will oversee a merger of the HIV prevention research unit with the HIV prevention section.

He will also continue to see patients at San Francisco General Hospital's AIDS Ward 86 half a day per week. His current salary of $168,896 will remain the same.

"All my research has been focused on HIV prevention. I think they have always been closely tied in my mind and my work has always been focused on prevention work," said Colfax, who is HIV-negative and lives with his partner of eight years in Sausalito.

Being an "outcome and evidence based person," Colfax said he intends to review how the section funds programs and prevention strategies to ensure they are worth the investment. He also expects there will now be closer ties between researchers and prevention staff on the work they are doing.

"One of the things I am planning to do in the first few months is figure out where resources are being allocated, based on the best evidence out there where they should be going, and what are the outcomes we are getting from our dollars," he said.

Colfax is working closely with interim HIV prevention director Tracey Packer on a transition plan. Packer took over the position after Steven Tierney left in December 2005 to join the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Packer will remain with the HIV prevention section but her role has yet to be determined, Colfax said.

Tierney said Colfax is a "good choice" and expects he will shift how the section approaches HIV prevention.

"I think he is going to be interested in programs and interventions that work," said Tierney. "They won't fund things because they exist. They will fund things that can be proven to work."

Robert McMullin, Stop AIDS executive director, said he is "excited" to work with Colfax.

"He is a lot like us. He is very research based and very much a person on the street. He bridges those two areas just like we do," he said. "He is a very smart guy. His presence will be felt."

Brian Basinger, founder of the AIDS Housing Alliance, said, "Housing is the best HIV prevention tool we have and I look forward to having conversations with him about that."

Colfax has studied everything from the correlation of Viagra use and HIV transmission to how drug usage such as alcohol, crystal meth, and cocaine are leading causes for the spread of HIV among gay men.

He will take the helm of the prevention unit at a time when all three drugs are said to be why the city's HIV rates, while showing a small decline in recent years, remain fairly stable.

To further push down transmission rates, Colfax said one step could be to create prevention messages focused more on positive aspects of gay male behavior than on the negative ones.

"Most gay men don't use substances and most gay men who use substances don't use them heavily. How can we reinforce that in the community as positive community norms to come up with a more asset-based model," he said. "Most gay men don't use meth. What is it about their resilience that won't lead them down a pathway to using meth? How can we reinforce those strengths?"

Because of the flat HIV rate some are now saying the HIV epidemic in San Francisco is over and should be classified as an endemic. Colfax said he agrees with such conclusions but doesn't see it as being positive news.

"We need to be clear on endemic. It is not a favorable state. It is a huge challenge for us," he said.