Mike Reid, MD
Chief Science Officer, GHSD/PEPFAR
Dr. Mike Reid is Chief Science Officer in the US Department of State’s Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy (GHSD) – PEPFAR. Dr. Reid is a practicing Infectious Disease physician with 15 years experience in academic global health. He has published over 100 publications, mostly related to HIV, TB, and COVID-19 implementation science research in diverse settings in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Carlos del Rio, MD
Chair, PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board
Carlos del Rio, MD is the Hubert Professor and Chair of the Hubert Department of Global Health and Professor of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University. He is also Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine. He is the Co-Director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and Director of the Emory AIDS International Training and Research Program.
Dr. del Rio is a native of Mexico where he was Executive Director of the National AIDS Council of Mexico (CONASIDA, the Federal agency of the Mexican Government responsible for AIDS Policy throughout Mexico), from 1992 through 1996.
Dr. del Rio’s research focuses on the early diagnosis, access to care, compliance with antiretrovirals and the prevention of HIV infection. He has worked for over a decade in hospitals and clinics with hard-to-reach populations including substance abuse users to improve outcomes of those infected with HIV and to prevent infection with those at risk. He is also interested in the translation of research findings into practice and policy.
Dr. del Rio is a Member of the Board of Directors of the International Antiviral Society-USA (IAS-USA) and is the Chair of HIVMA of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). He is also a member of the Advisory Committee on HIV and STD Prevention and Treatment of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Health Resources and Services Administration. He is the Chief Section Editor for HIV of New England Journal of Medicine’s Journal Watch Infectious Diseases, the Senior Clinical Editor for AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses and member of the editorial board of Journal of AIDS, Women, Children and HIV, and Global Public Health. Dr. del Rio has been a member of four Institute of Medicine Committees on HIV/AIDS issues (The Ryan White Care Act: Data for Resource Allocation, Planning and Evaluation, Methodological Issus on HIV Prevention Trials, HIV Social Security Disability Criteria and Data Systems for Monitoring HIV Care). He has co-authored 30 book chapters and over 300 scientific papers. Among his many honors are the James H. Nakano Citation received in 2001 and awarded by the CDC for an outstanding scientific paper published in 2000; the Emory University Marion V. Creekmore Achievement Award for Internationalization and the Thomas Jefferson Award. He was selected by the “Atlanta Magazine” as one of the 55 most influential foreign born Atlantantans in 2007. In 2013 Dr. del Rio was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
Quarraisha Abdool Karim, PhD
Quarraisha Abdool Karim is Associate Scientific Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), Professor in Clinical Epidemiology, Columbia University, Honorary Professor in Public Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is internationally recognized for her landmark study that demonstrated that tenofovir gel prevents both HIV and Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 (HSV-2) infection. This contribution to AIDS prevention is the culmination of her epidemiological, clinical and basic research that spans over two decades in South Africa. Her research includes understanding the evolving HIV epidemic in South Africa; factors influencing the acquisition of HIV infection in adolescent girls; and sustainable strategies to introduce Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) in resource-constrained settings. She has over 170 peer reviewed publications and several books and book chapters. She founded the South African National AIDS Programme in 1995 during the Mandela Administration and is currently chair of the South African National AIDS Council Prevention and Structural Drivers Technical Task Team and a member of the WHO ARV Guidelines Committee. Since 1998 she has played a central role in building the science base in southern Africa through the Columbia University – Southern African Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Programme that has trained over 600 scientists in this region. She serves as an advisor on numerous national and international bodies and is the recipient of several prestigious awards that include the Order of Mapungubwe from the President of South Africa in 2013 for outstanding work in the field of HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis Research and Health Policy Development, and the 2014 TWAS-Lenovo Prize from The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) “for her exceptional and distinguished contributions to HIV prevention and women’s health” and is the 2016 L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Laureate for Africa and the Arab States. She is an International Associate of the National Academy of Medicine.
Judith Auerbach, PhD
Dr. Judith Auerbach is a public sociologist, independent science and policy consultant, and Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She previously served as Vice President, Research & Evaluation at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Vice President, Public Policy and Program Development, at amfAR, Director of the Behavioral and Social Science Program and HIV Prevention Science Coordinator in the Office of AIDS Research at the NIH, Assistant Director for Social and Behavioral Sciences in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Senior Program Officer at the Institute of Medicine.
Dr. Auerbach received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and has taught, presented, and published widely in the areas of HIV/AIDS, social science, public policy, and sex and gender. Her work has appeared in such journals as Health Affairs, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS), Science, Global Public Health, JAIDS, and the American Journal of Public Health, among others.
Dr. Auerbach has served on numerous professional and advisory groups, including the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board, NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council (OARAC), Institute of Medicine Committee on the Outcome and Impact Evaluation of PEPFAR, American Sociological Association Council, the Global HIV Prevention Working Group, and the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy. In 2012, she was elected to the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society.
For her science and policy work, Dr. Auerbach has received numerous awards including the 2004 Feminist Activist Award from Sociologists for Women in Society, the 2006 Research in Action Award from the Treatment Action Group (TAG), the 2008 Career Award from the Sociologists AIDS Network, and the 2010 Thomas M. Kelly Leadership Award from Project Inform and the 2014 Feminist-Scholar-Activist Award from the Sex and Gender Section of the American Sociological Association.
Dr. Auerbach’s research interests focus on the social organization of scientific knowledge, specifically, the role and standing of social research in the HIV/AIDS response; social determinants of health and wellbeing; and the relationship between science, program, and policy. As a consultant, she advises about scientific agenda-setting, strategic planning and priority-setting, and linking research and policy; and her clients include government agencies, non-profit and advocacy organizations, and universities.
Peter Berman, PhD, MSc
Prof. Peter Berman is Professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada and Director of UBC’s School of Population and Public Health. Prof. Berman is a health economist with forty years of experience in research, policy analysis and development, and training and education in global health. His research focuses on health care financing and developing effective primary care systems currently with recent field research in Ethiopia, India, and Malaysia. He is the author and editor of five books on global health economics and numerous academic papers. Previously he was Professor in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and founding Faculty Director of Harvard Chan’s DrPH program. Dr. Berman holds a M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Cornell University and has held field assignments in Indonesia and India with UNICEF, Ford Foundation, and the World Bank.
Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH
Chris Beyrer MD, MPH, is the inaugural Desmond M. Tutu Professor in Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is a Professor of Epidemiology, International Health, Health Behavior and Society, Nursing and Medicine at Johns Hopkins. He serves as Director of the Johns Hopkins Training Program in HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Science and as Founding Director of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights. He is the Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and of the University’s Center for Global Health. Dr. Beyrer has extensive experience in conducting international collaborative research in North and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He has spent much of his career focusing on the intersections of health and human rights. He was President of the International AIDS Society from 2014-16, and was elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine in 2014. He currently serves as Senior Scientific Liaison to the COVID-19 Vaccine Prevention Network of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Connie Celum, MD, MPH
Dr. Celum is Professor of Global Health and Medicine, Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the International Clinical Research Center in the Department of Global Health at University of Washington. Dr. Celum an infectious disease epidemiologist with a focus on HIV prevention. She has led multi-center HIV prevention efficacy trials, including genital herpes suppression for prevention of HIV acquisition (HPTN 039, funded by NIH) and prevention of HIV transmission and disease progression in HIV serodiscordant couples (Partners in Prevention HSV/HIV Transmission Study, funded by BMGF). Most recently Dr. Celum co-led a 3 arm trial of tenofovir-based pre-exposure antiretroviral prophylaxis among HIV serodiscordant couples in Kenya and Uganda (the Partners PrEP Study, funded by BMGF) and is co-leading a demonstration project of ARV-based prevention in serodiscordant couples in Kenya and Uganda and young women in South Africa (the Partners Demo project, funded by BMGF, NIH and USAID). Dr. Celum is co-leading implementation science research about PrEP implementation for young women in Kenya and South Africa (3P and POWER studies, funded by NIH, BMGF, and USAID). Dr. Celum is leading combination HIV prevention studies focusing on community-level HIV testing and decentralized ART initiation in Uganda and South Africa (funded by BMGF).
Judith S. Currier, MD, MSc
Dr. Currier is Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Co-Director of the Center for AIDS Research and Education Center (CARE) in the Department of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is Chair of the NIH sponsored AIDS Clinical Trials Group, a global therapeutics network for HIV, TB and hepatitis. Her research has focused on HIV therapeutics and long-term complications of HIV disease with an emphasis on sex differences and antiretroviral therapy, cardiovascular disease, and women’s health.
Roopa Dhatt, M.D., M.P.A.
Dr. Roopa Dhatt is a passionate advocate for gender equality in global health and a leading voice in the movement to correct the gender imbalance in global health leadership. She is also a practicing Internal Medicine physician in Washington, D.C. Dr. Dhatt is particularly committed to addressing issues of power, privilege, and intersectionality that keep many women from global health leadership roles and to opening up spaces for the voices of these women. Determined to transform women’s leadership opportunities in health, Dr. Dhatt co-founded Women in Global Health in 2015. Today, Women in Global Health has 25 official chapters, more than 50,000 supporters in more than 90 countries, and continues to grow. As Executive Director, she and the global team work together with a network of WGH chapters in every region to challenge power and privilege for gender equity in health. Dr. Dhatt has worked in global health for 15 years, collaborating with 120+ countries. She holds numerous advisory and board roles. She has published in the Lancet, BMJ, Devex, Forbes, and been interviewed in National Geographic, Nature, NPR, EuroNews, and more. Dr. Dhatt was recognized in Gender Equality Top 100, the most influential people in global policy 2019. She was invited as a public delegate to the historic United States Government Delegation to the United Nations 65th Commission of Status of Women Meeting in March 2021 and is a member of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission, Global Health Diplomacy and Cooperation Task Force.
Sofia Gruskin, JD, MIA
Sofia Gruskin directs the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health and founded its Program on Global Health & Human Rights at the University of Southern California. Within the USC Keck School of Medicine, she is a professor of preventive medicine and serves as chief of the Policy and Global Health division. She is professor of law at the USC Gould School of Law, affiliate faculty member with the USC Department of American Studies and Ethnicity and the Spatial Sciences Institute, serves on the USC Academic Senate Executive Board, and leads the USC Law & Global Health Collaboration. Gruskin’s work, which ranges from global policy to the grassroots level, has been instrumental in developing the conceptual, methodological and empirical links between health and human rights, with a focus on HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, child and adolescent health, gender-based violence, non-communicable disease and health systems. Current partners include the United Nations Development Programme, World Health Organization, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and local organizations and universities in Brazil, Kenya, Indonesia, Malaysia and Los Angeles, California. Gruskin has published extensively, including several books, and serves on the editorial boards of Global Public Health, Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters and Revue Tiers Monde.
Mark Harrington
Mark Harrington was born and raised in San Francisco, CA. He studied film, photography, history and literature at Harvard, where he graduated in 1983. In 1988 he joined the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP)/New York, where he was a key member of its Treatment + Data (T+D) Committee, and with whom he helped lead the 1988 “Seize Control of the FDA” and 1990 “Storm the NIH” demonstrations. In 1992 along with other members of T+D he cofounded Treatment Action Group (TAG), where he has been executive director since 2002. He cowrote AIDS Research at the NIH: A Critical Review with Gregg Gonsalves; its recommendations were included in the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993. He cowrote Problems with Protease Inhibitor Development Plans (1995) and wrote Viral Load in Vancouver (1996). He served as a member of the U.S. panel on Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-1-Infected Adults and Adolescents (1997-2010) and the World Health Organization (WHO) writing groups on Scaling Up Antiretroviral Therapy in Resource-Limited Settings: Treatment Guidelines for a Public Health Approach (2003, 2006), the WHO Interim policy on collaborative TB/HIV activities (2004), and Recommendations to improve the diagnosis of smear negative pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB among adults in HIV prevalent and resource-constrained settings (2007). He was a member of the Global TB/HIV Working Group in the Stop TB Partnership (2003–2014) and served on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Ending the Epidemic Task Force (October 2014–January 2015) that developed New York’s plan to end AIDS as an epidemic by 2020. Currently, he is a member of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group Tuberculosis Transformative Sciences Group (ACTG TB TSG), the International AIDS Society (IAS) Stakeholders’ Advisory Board for a Global Scientific Strategy Towards a Cure, and the Ending the Epidemic Subcommittee of the New York State AIDS Advisory Council. In 1997 he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship and in 2012 the HealthGAP Evan Ruderman Global Health Justice Award.
Musimbi Kanyoro, PhD
Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro is President and CEO of Global Fund for Women and a passionate advocate for women and girls’ health and human rights, and social change philanthropy. Dr. Kanyoro is an accomplished leader with three decades of experience managing international non-governmental organizations, global programs, and ecumenical agencies in cross-cultural contexts. In addition to being a sought after public speaker who inspires people, mobilizes action and resources, Dr. Kanyoro has authored numerous articles, opinion pieces and written or co-edited seven books.
Dr. Kanyoro also serves on several International Boards and working groups including the Aspen Leaders Council, the UN High level Taskforce for Reproductive Health, CARE, and the UN Women Civil Society Advisory Board and PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board.
Etienne Karita, MD, MSc
Dr. Etienne Karita has worked in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention and research for the last twenty-five years. He received his medical degree from the University of Rwanda in 1985. He also holds a Master’s degree in Molecular Biology from the Free University of Brussels in Belgium (1995), and a Master’s of Science degree (Epidemiology) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (2002). For the last 12 years, Dr. Karita has been the Country Director of Project San Francisco (PSF), an HIV/AIDS research organization of Emory University established in Rwanda in 1986. In addition to participating in research activities on HIV transmission among discordant couples, acute HIV infection, and integration of couples HIV and family planning counseling, Dr. Karita has been Principal Investigator for five phase 1 HIV vaccine trials conducted by PSF with support from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). Prior to joining PSF, Dr. Karita was a Senior Technical Advisor and International Program Officer for PMTCT programs sponsored by the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. He is the founding director of the Treatment and Research AIDS Center and the National Reference Laboratory of the Ministry of Health in Rwanda. He has also served as the Director of the National AIDS Control Program, and he played a very active role in the implementation and scale-up of HTC, PMTCT, and HIV care & treatment services in Rwanda. He initiated the first pilot PMTCT program in Rwanda and has offered technical assistance to many HIV programs across Africa. He continues to be a resource person for several technical working groups of the Ministry of Health in Rwanda. He is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of IAVI.
Jennifer Kates, PhD
Dr. Jen Kates is Senior Vice President and Director of Global Health & HIV Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, where she oversees the Foundation’s policy analysis and research focused on the U.S. government’s role in global health and on the global and domestic HIV epidemics. Widely regarded as an expert in the field, she regularly publishes and presents on global health and HIV policy issues and is particularly known for her work analyzing donor government investments in global health; assessing and mapping the U.S. government’s global health architecture, programs, and funding; and tracking and analyzing major U.S. HIV programs and financing, and key trends in the HIV epidemic, an area she has been working in for close to thirty years. Prior to joining the Foundation in 1998, Dr. Kates was a Senior Associate with The Lewin Group, a health care consulting firm, where she focused on HIV policy, strategic planning/health systems analysis, and health care for vulnerable populations. Among other prior positions, she directed the Office of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns at Princeton University.
Dr. Kates serves on numerous federal and private sector advisory committees on global health and HIV issues, and is currently a member of PEPFAR’s Scientific Advisory Board, the NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council, and the CDC/HRSA Advisory Committee on HIV, Viral Hepatitis and STD Prevention and Treatment (CHACHSPT). In addition, she serves as an Alternate Board Member of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and is on the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society.
Dr. Kates received her Ph.D. in Health Policy from George Washington University, where she is also a lecturer. She is also a lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts.
Lejeune Y. Lockett, DM, MSPH
Dr. Lejeune Y. Lockett, DM, MSPH serves as the Director of the Office of International Affairs at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and is an Assistant Professor in the College of Science and Health. She holds a Doctorate of Management (Organizational Leadership) from the University of Phoenix, Arizona, a Masters of Science in Public Health (Health Services Planning and Policy Analysis) from UC Los Angeles, and a Bachelors in Psychobiology from UC Davis.
As an institutional member of the HBCU Global Health Consortium, she is part of the leadership team that provides oversight to the HRSA/PEPFAR funded Rise Up! Project established in Lusaka, Zambia by Charles R. Drew University (CDU). As the Operations & Program Manager for Global Health at CDU from 2010-2018, she managed three Military HIV/AIDS Prevention Projects located in Angola, Jamaica and Belize funded by PEPFAR and the US Department of Defense. As the Associate Director/Health for the U.S. Peace Corps in Namibia, she spearheaded and managed the agency’s Community Health and HIV/AIDS Program from 2005-2009. She co-founded the Young Achievers Empowerment Program in Namibia for the historically disadvantaged youth living in the former township of Katutura.
Dr. Lockett worked for the Augsburg College Center for Global Education (CGE) as the Program Coordinator/Adjunct Professor in Mexico and as Interim Director in Namibia to facilitate semester abroad programs and short-term travel seminars in Mexico, Namibia, South Africa, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Cuba. As an International Population Fellow, she worked at the National Institute of Public Health/School of Public Health of Mexico and later as the Head of the Department of Alternative Health Care Models. She lived in Mexico for 10 years and in Namibia for 6 years and has travelled to over 40 countries. She enjoys discovering the interconnectedness of people, places and things. Dr. Lockett has served as a member of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) since 2015.
Ruth Macklin, PhD
Ruth Macklin is Professor of Bioethics in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, USA. She received a BA with Distinction from Cornell University and an MA and PhD in Philosophy from Case Western Reserve University. She has more than two hundred sixty publications in professional journals and scholarly books in bioethics, law, medicine, philosophy, and the social sciences, in addition to articles in magazines and newspapers for general audiences. She is author or editor of thirteen books, including Mortal Choices (1988), Enemies of Patients (1993), Surrogates and Other Mothers (1994), Against Relativism (1999), Double Standards in Medical Research in Developing Countries (2004), and Ethics in Global Health: Research, Policy and Practice (2012). Her other publications include articles on HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, ethics in human subjects research, global health, and multinational research. Dr. Macklin is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science). She was president of the International Association of Bioethics from 1999-2001, and has served several terms on its Board of Directors. She was a member of the Scientific and Ethical Review Committee in the Department of Reproductive Health and Research at the World Health Organization (WHO) from 1989 to 2014, served on the HIV Vaccine Advisory Committee at WHO from 2001 to 2010, and was Chair of the External Ethics Committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2005 to 2008. Dr. Macklin chaired the Ethical Review Committee at the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Geneva from 1996-2000; also at UNAIDS she was a member of the Global Reference Group on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights from 2003-2008. Since 2000 she has co-directed an NIH Fogarty International Center Training Program on research ethics, which takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On three occasions she served as visiting faculty teaching research ethics courses at the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, and has participated in consultations organized by WHO departments in Botswana, Malawi, South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Turkey, Thailand, India, Russia, and Brazil, among other venues. In 2012 she was invited to help organize two sessions on research ethics at the International Microbicide Conference in Sydney, Australia. She has also been on the faculty of workshops in Argentina and Peru conducted by the Department of Clinical Ethics of the NIH. In 2014 she received two prestigious awards: the Hastings Center’s Henry Beecher Award, and an award from the Global Forum on Bioethics in Research for contributions to progress international research ethics.
Celia J. Maxwell, M.D., FACP, FIDSA
Dr. Maxwell serves as the Associate Dean for Research at Howard University College of Medicine. She is currently the Principal Investigator of several prestigious projects. They include: The Center for Infectious Disease Management and Research’s, Ryan White EIS program, The DC DOH Routine HIV Testing Program and as Co-PI for the PEPFAR funded HBCU Clinical Practice Transformation Project in Zambia.
Dr. Maxwell was selected by Sharon Pratt-Kelly, former Mayor of Washington, D.C. to co-chair the Transitional Task Force on AIDS services, and was also appointed to the Healthcare Reform Task Force chaired by former First Lady, Hillary Rodman Clinton. As well was appointed by Dr. Donna Shalala, then Secretary of Health and Human Services, and served on the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council of the National Institutes of Health. Additionally, from 1994-97, she served as a Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Dr. David Kessler. Dr. Maxwell was selected for the nationally renowned Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship and through the fellowship, served as a health legislative assistant for Senator Tom Harkin (D. Iowa). In 2015 she was inducted into the Washington DC. Hall of Fame and was appointed as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, of the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief. (PEPFAR).
Dr. Maxwell obtained a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Hunter College and her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, both in New York City. She completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at Howard University Hospital and a Fellowship in Parasitology at the National Institutes of Health, Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases. Her research interests then involved the investigation of the immune response of humans to the hookworm parasite. Dr. Maxwell is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, as well as a member of several boards and scientific associations. To date she has conducted international medical site visits or served as a lecturer in Cuba, Haiti, Panama, Dubai UAE, Uganda, Zambia, Senegal, Beijing, India and Brazil.
Kenneth Mayer, MD
Dr. Mayer is a Professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, and Attending Physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and Director of HIV Prevention Research there. He is the founder, Co-Chair and Medical Research Director of The Fenway Institute, the research, training and health policy division of Fenway Health, the largest ambulatory facility caring for HIV-infected patients in New England. He previously was a Professor of Medicine and Community Health at Brown University, and Director of its AIDS Program. Dr. Mayer has served on the national boards of the HIV Medicine Association, the American Foundation for AIDS Research and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. He is a member of the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society, and Co-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Center for Global Health Policy of the Infectious Disease Society of America.
Since 1994, he has been the Principal Investigator of the only NIH-funded HIV Prevention Research Clinical Trials Unit in New England focusing on bio-behavioral prevention and chemoprophylaxis and the Co-Principal Investigator of the Harvard HIV/AIDS Vaccine Unit, conducting trials in the NIH-funded HIVNET, HPTN, HVTN and MTN networks. He was the Co-Chair of an NIAID-funded protocol evaluating a community-based prevention intervention for African-American Men who have Sex with Men in 6 U.S. cities (HPTN 061) and is Co-Chair of a multicenter protocol evaluating the safety, tolerability and adherence with Maraviroc-based chemoprophylaxis regimens. He is the co-author of more than 500 peer-reviewed publications. He is the Editor-in-Chief, The Journal of the International AIDS Society, the editor of three texts related to the impact of AIDS on diverse disciplines, as well as “The Social Ecology of Infectious Diseases” (Academic Press) and is Associate Editor of The Fenway Guide to LGBT Health (ACP Press).
He continues to teach and mentor medical students, residents, and fellows. He has provided care to people living with HIV since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.
Jesse Milan, JD
Jesse Milan, Jr., JD. is a person living with HIV for 33 years. He is a Senior Fellow at Atlas Research, a Fellow at the Altarum Institute, and an executive leadership development consultant with the Dorrier Underwood firm. He is the HIV Subject Matter Expert on numerous federal programs including the CDC National Capacity Building Partners Network Resource Center, and the CDC’ s Changing Landscape qualitative assessment of the impact of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and High Impact Prevention on health departments. He serves on the Steering Committee for the AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC) National Coordinating Resource Center, and on the Scientific Advisory Board for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. He is Chair Emeritus, current officer, and past board chair of the Black AIDS Institute, and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. He served for five years as co-chair of the CDC/HRSA Advisory Committee on HIV and STD Prevention and Treatment, and was co-chair of the CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention’s External Peer Review of its entire $700 million portfolio. He worked seven years as director of the CDC National Prevention Information Network (NPIN) and was project director for the CDC’s Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative. He served on the Host Planning Committee for the 2015 U.S. Conference on AIDS and as co-chair of its Maryland Committee; and served appointments for the 2012 International AIDS Conference on both the Conference Coordinating Committee, and the Leadership and Accountability Programme Committee. He is past director of the AIDS Office for the City of Philadelphia Department of Health, was president of the board of ActionAIDS (Pennsylvania’s largest AIDS service organization), and chair of the Philadelphia EMA Ryan White Planning Council and HIV Prevention Planning Group. He served also as president of the board of the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition, the Philadelphia AIDS Consortium, and the Princeton Class of 1978 Foundation. He worked five years as Vice President of the Altarum Institute and for ten years as Vice President at the Constella Group where he directed public health projects for WHO, CDC, HRSA, NIH, SAMHSA, USDA, and foundations. A lawyer, he was Deputy City Solicitor for Philadelphia and was Chief of Staff to the President of Temple University. Mr. Milan has given hundreds of speeches, keynotes, and presentations, addressing millions of people in the U.S. and Africa on
HIV/AIDS issues, including three speaking tours for the U.S. State Department and at the White House. He will receive in 2015 the Public Service Award from the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC). In 2010, Mr. Milan was named by POZ magazine as one of the 100 most influential Americans in HIV/AIDS and was honored by the Health Resources and Services Administration in 2004 for “leading the national and international fight against HIV disease.” He is a graduate the New York University School of Law and of Princeton University.
Gregorio (Greg) Millett
Gregorio (Greg) Millett is a Vice President at amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, and the Director of amfAR’s Public Policy Office. He is a former CDC Senior Scientist in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) and has published first author publications in the Lancet, JAMA, AIDS, AJPH, JAIDS, and other journals. Mr. Millett also served as Senior Policy Advisor in the White House Office of National AIDS Policy where he helped author President Obama’s original National HIV/AIDS Strategy and worked to support the Strategy’s implementation across the federal government. In 2020, Mr. Millett was the opening plenary speaker for the International AIDS Conference; he also published the first national research studies assessing the impact of COVID-19 among black and Latino Americans. Besides the PEPFAR SAB, Mr. Millett serves as a member of the HIV Prevention Trials Network, the COVID-19 Prevention Network, and the CDC/HRSA Advisory Board.
Angela Mushavi, MBChB, MMed Pediatrics
Angela Mushavi is a Medical Doctor who graduated from the University of Zimbabwe Medical School in 1988. She has a postgraduate qualification in Pediatrics obtained from the University of Zimbabwe and is currently working towards a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) degree with Regent Business School in Durban, South Africa.
Angela Mushavi is the National PMTCT and Pediatric HIV Care and Treatment Coordinator in the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) in Zimbabwe and has the responsibility to provide technical leadership and coordination for the expansion of the national PMTCT and Pediatric HIV and AIDS care and treatment programs in Zimbabwe. In that regard, she works to facilitate the collaboration and networking of national, regional and international organizations involved in delivering PMTCT and Pediatric HIV and AIDS care and treatment that is integrated within the overall maternal newborn and child health settings. She chairs the National PMTCT Partnership Forum and through its various technical sub-committees, provides guidance and support to PMTCT and Pediatric HIV and AIDS care and treatment partners to develop plans that are aligned with national policies, plans and priorities. Angela Mushavi supports the MOHCC to mobilize resources to support the scale-up of PMTCT and Pediatric HIV and AIDS care programs and provide technical leadership in identifying priority areas for operational research. She is involved in the implementation of operational research to generate evidence to guide the expansion of the national PMTCT and Pediatric HIV and AIDS care and treatment programs.
She is involved in policy formulation and guideline development both at national and international levels, and provides technical expertise to the WHO HIV guidelines development process; in 2010 as an external reviewer to the PMTCT guidelines, and in 2013 and 2015 as a member of the WHO Guideline Development Group.
Prior to joining the MOHCC in Zimbabwe, Angela Mushavi worked with CDC Namibia as a PMTCT Technical Advisor to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MOHSS) from 2007 to 2009. From 2004-2007, she worked as the Pediatrician running the Pediatric ART Clinic at Katutura State Hospital, a referral hospital in Windhoek, Namibia. Before practicing in Namibia, Angela Mushavi was the Head of Division of the Harare Children’s Hospital in Zimbabwe and a consultant in charge of a firm delivering clinical care to children.
She is a member of the Southern Africa HIV Clinicians Society and a steering committee member of the African Network for the Care of Children Affected by HIV/AIDS (ANECCA), and has contributed to the publication of the ANECCA Handbook on Pediatric AIDS in Africa.
Christine Nabiryo, MBChB, DPH, MMed PH, MBA
Christine has 25 years, experience in Public Health and HIV Projects Design, Management, Research, monitoring and evaluation across the Public – Urban and Rural, Faith-Based, Private and NGO sectors with senior management and leadership positions within Uganda. She has numerous short-term technical consulting engagements through working visits to over 20 countries. At the global level, she has worked with agencies like Global Fund, WHO, UNFPA, UNAIDS/UN Millennium villages project and White Ribbon Alliance, amongst others.
Christine has vast experience in managing donor-funded projects including USAID, CDC, DFID, DANIDA, Irish AID, Global Fund and private sector grants for a portfolio of over 50 M USD in Uganda.
She is currently a part-time Research and Ethics Technical Advisor for Mildmay Uganda and an independent Public Health and HIV Consultant. She is a member of the PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board and the Community Health Alliance Uganda Board.
For legacy, she is serving family and the community. She is working on documenting a model for sustainable social development with Public Health as the entry point- “Transforming communities: A village at a time” with Jjumbi Village, Mpenja Sub county, Gomba district, Uganda, East Africa.
Rev. Dr. Nyambura Njoroge
The Reverend Dr. Nyambura J. Njoroge is a Kenyan global church leader, theologian and advocate for justice, human dignity and rights for women, girls, and people living with HIV and marginalized groups. She is currently the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy program executive. Njoroge’ accomplishments includes providing leadership in facilitating theological scholarships for women of global south and advocating for women’s inclusion in the teaching of theology in church seminaries and universities while directing the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Theological Education (1999-2007). Prior to moving to the World Council of Churches she successfully established and coordinated a new global program to promote partnership of women and men among the member churches of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (1992- 1999).
In her current job Njoroge provides leadership in creating and growing HIV competent churches and theological institutions by addressing the multiple social determinants of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), gender and economic disparities, harmful cultural practices, leadership crisis and misleading faith healing preaching that stop people living with HIV from accessing ARVs and adherence to treatment in sub-Saharan Africa. She has ensured increased participation of men and adolescents in HIV programs as well as studies and publications on religion, transformed masculinities and femininities, sex, sexualities and sexual reproductive health and SGBV in the churches and theological institutions. The HIV program includes people living with HIV, people in the armed forces, prisons, sex workers, people with disabilities and sexual minorities. The program is also working with churches in Jamaica, the Philippines and Ukraine.
Njoroge received her first degree at St. Paul’s University, Limuru, Kenya, Master’s degree from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, and a Ph.D. in Christian Social Ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. She is a founding member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians (1989) and a member of the International Network of Religious Leaders living with or personally affected by HIV and AIDS (INERELA+).
She grew up in Kenya and was the first woman to be ordained by the Presbyterian Church of East Africa in 1982. In 2009 she received the Distinguished Alum Award from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and in 2012 a Lifetime Achievement Award by Alumnae Association of St. Paul’s University, Limuru, Kenya. She has written and published extensively on matters affecting communities, churches, women, girls and leadership. She currently lives in Geneva, Switzerland.
Jean Pape, MD
Dr. Pape, a graduate of Columbia University (BS, 1971) and Weill Cornell Medical College (MD, 1975), completed his medicine and Infectious Diseases training at Cornell prior to returning to his native Haiti in 1980.
He made significant public health contributions in Haiti that led to a significant decrease in the national infantile mortality and to a similar decrease in the national HIV seroprevalence, showing that it is possible to develop successful national programs in the poorest countries and under conditions of instability and political unrest.
In 1980, he was the first to introduce oral rehydration therapy in Haiti, with a decrease in hospital infant mortality rate from 40%, to < 1% within 1 year. Expansion of the program nationwide resulted in a 50% decrease in national infant mortality.
Dr. Pape is also credited with the recognition and first comprehensive description of AIDS in the developing world. He assumed an international leadership role and has been unrelenting in his efforts to implement programs for the prevention and control of AIDS and tuberculosis in Haiti and other resource-poor countries. Dr. Pape established in 1982 the “Haitian Study Group on Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO)”, the first institution in the world dedicated to the fight against AIDS and continues as its Director.
Three decades later despite deteriorating political and economic conditions, GHESKIO continues to provide uninterrupted free care to over 500,000 patients with HIV, STIs and TB annually. New therapies for HIV/AIDS, TB and diarrhea have been validated and implemented. A world-class vaccine and clinical trials Unit has been established with NIH support. Funding from the UN Global Fund and PEPFAR has expanded the GHESKIO comprehensive care paradigm throughout Haiti. Over one-third of all patients on HAART in Haiti are treated in the GHESKIO network. Dr. Pape and his team have been credited with “slowing the AIDS epidemic in Haiti” and serving as “a model for how poor countries with few resources can combat AIDS, TB and diarrhea” (NY Times 12/22/02).
Dr. Pape currently directs NIH-supported HIV therapy trials in Haiti as well as one of the largest AIDS and tuberculosis treatment centers in the Americas. In 2010, he successfully introduced oral cholera vaccine in Haiti during the cholera epidemic leading WHO to change its guidelines on reactive vaccination. Dr. Pape is the recipient of numerous awards including: the French ”Legion d’Honneur,” election to the Institute of Medicine, the Carlos Slim Health Award for Life Achievement in Research, Gates Global Health, Clinton Global Initiative, WHO STOP TB Kochon awards, and Christophe Mérieux prize by Institut de France. In 2014 he was awarded Haiti’s highest recognition: “Honneur et Mérite, Grade Commandeur”.
David Peters, MD, DrPH, MPH
David H. Peters, MD, MPH, DrPH, is Professor and Chair of the Department of International Health and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is a specialist in international health systems who has worked as a researcher, policy advisor, educator, bureaucrat, manager, and clinician in dozens of developing countries over the last two decades. He previously worked as a Senior Public Health Specialist at the World Bank, and as the Director of the Health Systems Program at Johns Hopkins. He is Research Director for the Future Health Systems research consortium, which is working to improve access, affordability and quality of health services for the poor, with field sites in five countries in Africa and Asia. He pioneered the development of Sector Wide Approaches (SWAps) in health, and created the first national Balanced Scorecard to assess and manage health services (in Afghanistan), while writing seven books and over 100 articles. His teaching and research focus on the performance of health systems, implementation research methods, poverty and health systems, innovations in organization, technology, and financing of health systems, the role of the private sector, human resource management, and ways to use donor assistance to strengthen local capacity in low-income countries.
Rev. Edwin C. Sanders, II
The Reverend Edwin C. Sanders, II, is the Senior Servant and Founder of Metropolitan Interdenominational Church (established 1981) in Nashville, Tennessee. This congregation attracts a broad cross-section of people with the mission of being “inclusive of all and alienating to none.” Metropolitan has outreach ministries in the areas of substance abuse, advocacy for children, sexual violence, and harm reduction, and since 1984 has provided services to persons infected with, and affected by, HIV/AIDS. In 1992 the Metropolitan Interdenominational Church founded the First Response Center which includes a health clinic that provides free HIV/AIDS testing and primarily serves low income persons with HIV/AIDS treatment as well as counseling, case management, direct observed therapy, housing referrals and other services.
Rev. Sanders earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from Wesleyan University in 1969. His professional life began as Co-Director of Wesleyan’s African American Institute. He later served on the Wesleyan University Board of Trustees; in 2014, received the Wesleyan University Distinguished Alumnus Award; and in 2019 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Wesleyan. He pursued graduate studies at Yale University and Vanderbilt University Divinity Schools.
For eighteen years, Rev. Sanders served as Pastoral Counselor for the Meharry Medical College Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program in Nashville, Tennessee, where he was responsible for the spiritual component of all programs. This work was primarily built around the conducting of group and individual therapy sessions. Also in Nashville, Rev. Sanders has served as Director of the Southern Prison Ministry and as the Dean of the Chapel of Fisk University.
Rev. Sanders holds life membership in the NAACP, and is a member of the Interdenominational Ministers’ Fellowship (former President). He was a member of the Alcohol and Drug Council of Middle Tennessee and has served as a Commissioner for the Tennessee Human Rights Commission. He is past Chairperson of the Ryan White Community AIDS Partnership, and is still a member of the consortium. He was appointed to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) Advisory Committee on HIV and STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) Prevention during the Clinton Administration and served five years on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS during the Bush Administration. He also served as co-chair of the National Syphilis Elimination Working Group and worked with the Obama Administration White House Office on AIDS in implementing the National AIDS Strategy. Rev. Sanders was a presenter at the International AIDS Conferences in Geneva, Switzerland; Vienna, Austria; Durban, South Africa; Toronto, Canada; and Amsterdam, Netherlands; as well as a regular speaker at other forums and conferences throughout the United States and around the world. Rev. Sanders is a board member emeritus of the Black AIDS Institute. In addition, he serves on the Boards of Directors of The National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) and The Drug Policy Alliance. He is the National Coordinator for Religious Leaders for a More Just and Compassionate Drug Policy, a former member of the National Advisory Council on Sexual Health at the National Center for Primary Care and a former board member of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Justice. He was the first Chair of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) Legacy Project Advisory Group which is designed to increase the participation of African Americans and Latinos in HIV vaccine studies and is currently a consultant for the HVTN.
Fredrick Sawe, MBChB, MMed
As the Deputy Director, Kenya Medical Research Institute /Walter Reed Project (KEMRI/WRP) HIV Program in Kericho, Keny. Dr. Sawe leads all HIV prevention, care, treatment and research activities for this site, which is part of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program international research network. Dr Sawe is a Specialist Obstetrician and Gynecologist who has worked in the Kericho area for more than 20 years.
Dr. Sawe has played a key role in the execution of several HIV vaccine and therapeutic clinical trials and related HIV cohort studies in Kericho. Dr. Sawe is the Clinical Research Site (CRS) leader for Kericho and has been a Chair or Principal Investigator on a number of the protocols being implemented at the site, including studies sponsored by the US Army and the US National Institutes of Health, including AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) studies.
Since 2004, Dr. Sawe has been in charge of the KEMRI/WRP South Rift Valley Province (SRV) Presidents Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funded comprehensive HIV prevention, care and treatment program that covers a population of 2.5 million people. The SRV PEPFAR program includes HIV Counseling and Testing, Other Prevention (prevention programs and activities targeting high-risk populations), HIV Care and Treatment, Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV infection (PMTCT) and Orphans and Vulnerable Children.
Dr. Sawe graduated from medical school at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He also received specialized training for health care in developing countries and AIDS care and prevention from the Boston University School of Public Health and Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.
Susan Swindells, MBBS
Susan Swindells is a Professor of Internal Medicine in the Section of Infectious Diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, USA. A native of England, Dr. Swindells earned her medical degree from University College London in 1977, with postgraduate training in England and at the University of Washington in Seattle. She has been involved in HIV care since 1984. A clinician and active researcher, Dr. Swindells has many years of experience in translational and clinical research in the field of HIV/AIDS, with a special interest in tuberculosis co-infection. She has been the principal investigator on multiple clinical trials and is on the leadership of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group of the National Institutes of Health. She is a member of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines and the NIH COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel.
Carole Treston, RN, MPH, ACRN, FAAN
Carole Treston is the Chief Nursing Officer for the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, the global professional nursing membership organization for nurses involved in HIV and HIV-related care. She is an established leader in healthcare and nonprofit management with more than 20 years of experience in local, national, and international health and research organizations and health policy. She co-developed one of the first comprehensive, family-centered HIV/AIDS clinical and research programs in the U.S. and served as Executive Director of the Children’s Hope Foundation New York City. She was the Director of Operations for the PACTG/IMPAACT Group, the global multi-site, HIV/AIDS NIH clinical research network, and was the Executive Director of AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families, a national policy and advocacy organization in Washington, DC. Treston’s areas of interest include health disparities, the impact of HIV stigma, the unique experience of nurses at the intersection of health care and social determinants of health and strengthening and supporting the nursing workforce. She is an experienced nurse clinician with a Master of Public Health/Health Policy from Columbia University and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
Mitchell Warren
Mitchell Warren is the Executive Director of AVAC, an international non-governmental organization that uses education, policy analysis, advocacy and a network of global collaborations to accelerate the ethical development and global delivery of AIDS vaccines, male circumcision, microbicides, PrEP, condoms, and other emerging HIV prevention options as part of a comprehensive response to the pandemic.
Before this, he was the Senior Director for Vaccine Preparedness at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) where he directed efforts to increase community understanding and national involvement in AIDS vaccine clinical trials. Warren previously spent four years as Vice President and Director of International Affairs for The Female Health Company (FHC), the manufacturer of the female condom, where he directed efforts to design and implement reproductive health programs that integrate the female condom and led global advocacy efforts for female-initiated prevention methods. Warren also spent six years at Population Services International (PSI) designing and implementing social marketing, communications and health promotion activities in Africa, Asia and Europe, including five years running PSI’s project in South Africa.
Warren is a member of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Scientific Advisory Board (SAB); Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH); the board of directors of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise and of Maloto; the WHO-UNAIDS HIV Vaccine Advisory Committee; the advisory board of the Towards an HIV Cure Initiative of the International AIDS Society (IAS); and the International Track D Co-Chair and member of the Scientific Programme Committee for the 2016 International AIDS Conference.
Warren has degrees in English and History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and studied health policy at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.
John Wiesman, DrPH, MPH
John Wiesman was appointed secretary of health by Governor Jay Inslee and joined the Department of Health in April 2013. Dr. Wiesman has more than 22 years of local public health experience and focuses on whole systems approaches to improving health. He has worked in four local public health departments in Washington and Connecticut and now serves as the Washington State Secretary of Health. He started his public health career in Connecticut in 1986 and was in its first group trained to provide HIV counseling and testing services.
During his career, Dr. Wiesman has transformed health departments from providing individual clinical services to implementing policy, system, and environmental changes promoting prevention that make healthy choices easier and less expensive; transformed Clark County Public Health and the Department of Health into first responder organizations; and helped lead Washington State’s initiatives to transform the health delivery system to improve population health, known as Healthier Washington. Additionally, major efforts now underway at the Department of Health under his leadership include: End AIDS Washington, developing the Healthiest Next Generation, identifying and funding foundational public health services, implementing the Governor’s executive order reducing suicides and preventing firearm injuries and deaths, and addressing the public health impacts of climate change.
Dr. Wiesman serves as the immediate past president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and chairs the association’s Government Relations Committee.
John serves as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Health Policy and Management. He also serves as a clinical professor at the University of Washington, School of Public Health, Department of Health Services, and has an adjunct faculty appointment at The Evergreen State College teaching public health policy.
He earned his doctor of public health (DrPH) in public health executive leadership in 2012 from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He received his master of public health (MPH) in chronic disease epidemiology from Yale University in 1987, and his bachelor of arts (BA) in biology from Lawrence University in Wisconsin in 1983.
John was born and raised in Wisconsin. He and his husband have lived in Washington State since 1989.