Dr. Paxton is a retired United States Public Health Service captain and has had an extensive career with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She is acknowledged as an international leader in HIV prevention and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Dr. Paxton most recently served as the Zika coordinator for the CDC’s Center for Global Health.

She earned her medical degree at the University of California San Francisco and her Master of Public Health degree at the University of California Berkeley. Dr. Paxton completed her undergraduate work at Princeton University.