Dr. Robert C. Bailey is a professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago.  Dr. Bailey received his PhD in biological anthropology from Harvard University and his MPH in epidemiology from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. He began his career as a paleontologist studying the behavioral ecology of squirrel monkeys in the Colombian Amazon and baboons in Kenya.

Since 1995, Dr. Bailey has devoted most of his research activities to the issue of male circumcision as a possible HIV prevention strategy. He has conducted circumcision-related studies in varying communities in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, and the U.S. He has studied adverse events and conducted needs assessments associated with medical and traditional circumcisions in Kenya. Dr. Bailey is the principal investigator of the randomized controlled trial of male circumcision to reduce HIV incidence in Kisumu, Kenya, and he has served as a consultant to  WHO, UNAIDS, UNICEF, the World Bank, USAID, the CDC, and other national and international governmental and non-governmental agencies.