The AIDS 2022 conference, is the 24th edition taking place in Montreal, Canada

The AIDS 2022 conference, is the 24th edition taking place in Montreal, Canada

The AIDS 2022 conference, is the 24th edition taking place in Montreal, Canada with range of topics exploring Indigenous responses to HIV, surveillance ethics, health innovation, quality healthcare, HIV cure and vaccine research and much more. Some additional programme content, including Global Village and Youth Programme activities, pre-conferences, satellites and an exhibition.

Meet the AIDS 2022 speakers with their Biography

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID ) United States


Anthony S Fauci, MD, is Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, where he oversees an extensive research portfolio focused on infectious and immune-mediated diseases. As the long-time chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, Dr Fauci has made many seminal contributions in basic and clinical research and is one of the world’s most-cited biomedical scientists. He was aprincipal architect of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a programme that has saved millions of lives in low-and middle-income countries.

Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+)
Zimbabwe

Annah Sango is an Advocacy Officer at the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) and is based in Harare, Zimbabwe. Annah has over eight years’ experience in HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights policy and programmes, advocating for adolescent girls and young women living with HIV’s meaningful engagement and representation. Annah has been part of various boards, working groups and initiatives, including the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM-Zimbabwe), Global Fund Community Rights and Gender working group and the Ready to Lead project. Annah is a mum of two beautiful boys and is studying for a degree in journalism.

Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases-Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ)
Brazil.

Beatriz Grinsztejn is an infectious diseases physician and researcher at the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases-Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is the Director of the STD/AIDS Clinical Research Laboratory and principal investigator of the FIOCRUZ HIV Prevention and Therapeutic Clinical Trials Unit. The unit is affiliated to the HIV Prevention Trials Network, the AIDS Clinical Trials Group and the ANRS, and implements prevention and therapeutic clinical trials and cohort studies. Dr Grinsztejn is the Brazilian principal investigator for the Caribbean, Central and South America network for HIV epidemiology of the International Epidemiologic Databases to Evaluate AIDS. She is a member of the Brazilian Ministry of Health ART and PrEP Advisory Committees, PAHO Technical Advisory Committee and PrEP Task Force, and the UNAIDS Scientific Expert Panel. Dr Grinsztejn is a faculty member of the Masters and PhD Degree Program on Clinical Research in Infectious Diseases at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation.


United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM) Belize.

On 10 August 2016, the Supreme Court of Belize ruled in favour of Caleb Orozco in a constitutional challenge to Section 53 of the Criminal Code, and Belize became the first Caribbean Community country to decriminalize consensual same-sex relationships. Orozco is an LGBT/human rights advocate and activist. For the past 15 years, he has led UNIBAM, evaluating Belize’s LGBT transnational advocacy framework and conducting assessments that resulted in a national framework that included a civil rights and liberation lens. He has worked to advance development of a trauma-informed approach to victim advocacy and a legal advocate course agreement with a regional university. He has also produced a forensic analysis for gay men that identified factors that amplify gay men’s vulnerability to being murdered. Orozco has worked for years to challenge stigma through local, regional and international forums, such as the Human Dignity Trust, the UN High Commission for Human Rights and the Organization of the American States.

Feast Centre for Indigenous STBBI Research, McMaster University Canada

Doris Peltier, 65 years old, openly discloses that she is living with HIV. She is a Anishinaabe grandmother and great grandmother from Wikwemikoong, a First Nations community on the unceded territory of the Odawa, Ojibway and Pottawatami peoples on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada. Doris is currently Community Engagement Coordinator with the Feast Centre for Indigenous STBBI Research, a partnership between McMaster University and CAAN. As an Indigenous woman living with HIV since 2000, she is co-creator of Visioning Health I & II, a research project by and for Indigenous women living with HIV that focuses on their strengths-based stories of health. Doris is a Community Advisory Council member with the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. She is also one of two North American members of the Women Living with HIV Advisory Group with WHO. Doris has worked within the Indigenous HIV movement in Canada for almost two decades. Notably, Doris was recently recognized and awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Social Sciences for her contributions to Indigenous health research in Canada. She is fluent in Anishinaabemowin across many dialects, which frames her worldview in Indigenous health research.

South Africa Medical Research Council (SAMRC) South Africa.


Glenda Gray is a National Research Foundation (NRF) A1-rated scientist and CEO and President of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC). A qualified paediatrician, Glenda is co-founder of the internationally recognized Perinatal HIV Research Unit, an affiliate of Wits University, in Soweto, South Africa. She was the Executive Director of the unit before her appointment at the SAMRC.

Glenda’s global profile includes being co-PI of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), a transnational collaboration for the development of HIV prevention vaccines. She is also Director of International Programmes for HVTN, Chairperson of the Board of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, USA

She received South Africa’s highest honour – the Order of Mapungubwe – for her pioneering research in prevention of perinatal transmission of HIV. Other prestigious accolades include the Nelson Mandela Health and Human Rights Award for significant contributions in the field of perinatal transmission. Selected as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People, Glenda is a recognized leader in her field. Her qualifications include an MBBCH, FCPaeds (SA), DSc (honoris causa SFU), DSc (honoris causa SUN) and LL.D (Rhodes).

Stop TB Partnership Switzerland


Jackie Huh is Head of the External Affairs & Strategic Initiatives team at the Stop TB Partnership, hosted by UNOPS. After working in the private sector for over 10 years, Jackie decided to change everything in her life except for her family and friends, and dedicate herself to something more challenging and impactful. Due to a chronic, life-long health condition that affects her and early experiences in South Africa, she is committed and passionate about healthcare delivery and innovation. “I was lucky enough to realize when I was fairly young that the reasons for who I am and live the life I do are due to circumstances that were based on pure chance and not necessarily on merit,” she says. “Knowing this, it is hard not to feel that it is society’s collective and ethical responsibility, including mine, to do everything we can to ensure that all people have access to appropriate, quality and people-centred care so that they can have the life they want and deserve.”

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Ethiopia


John Nkengasong is the Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and nominated to be Ambassador-At-Large and Coordinator of United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally. In 2020, he was appointed as one of the WHO Director-General’s Special Envoys on COVID-19 Preparedness and Response and received the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s 2020 Global Goalkeeper Award for his contributions to Africa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, he was named as one of Times’ 100 most influential people, Fortune’s 50 great leaders and Bloomberg Businessweek’s 50 most influential people. Previously, he was Acting Deputy Principal Director of the Center for Global Health and Chief of the International Laboratory Branch, Division of Global HIV and TB for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Nkengasong has received numerous awards, including the Sheppard Award and the William Watson Medal of Excellence, the highest recognition by the CDC. He has been knighted in Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and Cameroon for his contributions to public health. He is an adjunct professor at the Emory School of Public Health, Emory University, and Atlanta, Georgia.

University of Montreal Canada


Julie Bruneau is the Canada Research Chair in Addiction Medicine, Professor in the Department of Family and Emergency Medicine at the University of Montreal and a clinical scientist at the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM). She is the Scientific Director of the Quebec-Atlantic node of the Canadian Research Initiative on Drug Misuse. Her research contributes to a better understanding of factors impeding and facilitating harm reduction efforts to reduce HIV and HCV transmission and to the evaluation and implementation of novel interventions for equitable access to quality healthcare for people who use drugs.

The Mortimer Market Centre London United Kingdom


Laura Waters is a GU/HIV consultant and HIV lead at The Mortimer Market Centre, London. She is chair of the British HIV Association (BHIVA) and of its treatment guidelines, and she serves on the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) Board. Previously, Laura was the secretary of BHIVA and chair of its conferences sub-committee, chair of the BASHH HIV Special Interest Group, and co-author of several national guidelines. Laura represents BHIVA on the HIV Clinical Reference Group, advising National Health Service England on HIV treatment and care. She has published widely, writes a regular column for Boyz magazine and is a Terrence Higgins Trust trustee. She teaches regularly at local, regional and national level, including on HIV and sexual health to medical students and in HIV courses at University College London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Desmond Tutu HIV Centre South Africa


Linda-Gail Bekker is the Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, and Chief Executive Officer of the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation. She is a physician-scientist and infectious disease specialist. Her research interests include programmatic and action research around antiretroviral roll out and TB integration, and prevention of HIV in women, young people and men who have sex with men.

Linda-Gail has also recently been involved in several COVID-19 vaccine trials and co-leads the Sisonke Phase 3B study, which has seen the vaccination of 500,000 healthcare workers in South Africa. She has led numerous investigator-driven studies in HIV treatment, prevention and tuberculosis. She is a Past President of the International AIDS Society and served as the International Co-Chair of the 9th International AIDS Conference and 22nd International AIDS Conference and co-chaired the 4th HIV Research for Prevention Conference held in January 2021.

McGill University Canada


Marina Klein is a Professor of Medicine at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, in the Division of Infectious Diseases/Chronic Viral Illnesses Service, where she is Research Director. She graduated from McGill Medical School in 1991 and trained in internal medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. She completed a research fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota in 1998 and then did a postdoc with the Canadian HIV Trials Network. She received a Master’s in epidemiology and biostatistics from McGill in 2003. Her clinical interests focus on treatment of people with HIV and chronic viral hepatitis. Dr Klein is a prominent researcher of clinical and epidemiologic aspects of HIV and hepatitis C co-infection. She has been a principal investigator in many clinical trials and has worked towards accessing liver transplantation for people living with co-infections in Canada. She is also involved in observational epidemiologic research collaborations focused on understanding long-term clinical and treatment outcomes in HIV and HIV-HCV co-infection. Dr Klein is National Co-Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Canadian HIV Trials Network (CIHR-CTN) and Co-leader of its Co-infections and Concurrent Diseases Core.

Institute of HIV Research and Innovation (IHRI) Thailand


Rena Janamnuaysook is a Program Manager for Transgender Health at IHRI in Bangkok, Thailand, where she established the Tangerine Community Health Clinic, the first transgender-led health clinic in the region. She manages and provides technical guidance for the development and implementation of HIV research and programmes for transgender populations. Rena is a fellow of the NIH CHIMERA D43 programme, part of the IeDEA network, to learn to conduct HIV and mental health implementation research. She also worked as Project Management Specialist in HIV Key Populations for the US Agency for International Development and was co-founder of the Thai Transgender Alliance, the first transgender-owned human rights organization in Thailand. Rena has a Master’s in international development from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, and is doing her PhD at the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Egypt


Shereen is an expert on sexuality and gender in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with wide-ranging experience on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and their intersection with political, economic and social dynamics. As UNAIDS Regional Director for MENA, Shereen leads the programme across 20 countries. Previously, she worked at Promundo as MENA Regional Director. Under the aegis of UN Women Arab States, she led groundbreaking work on men and masculinities, including the International Men and Gender Equality Survey in seven countries across the region. Shereen is also a prominent advocate for SRHR through her book, Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World, as well as documentaries, TED talks and other media, building on her experience as a healthcare journalist with The Economist and Al Jazeera. Shereen started her career in biomedicine with a PhD in molecular immunology from the University of Cambridge. She is Egyptian, Canadian and British, and speaks English, French and Arabic.

University of Washington United States


Simon Hay is a Professor in the Department of Health Metrics Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Washington, and Director of Research Strategy, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Professor Hay obtained his doctorates from the University of Oxford. He has authored more than 500 publications with an h-index of more than 175. He was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 2012 and served as its 52nd President (2013-2016). Professor Hay has been elected to the fellowship of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) South Africa


Solange Baptiste is Executive Director of ITPC. She leads community activists and allies across the globe to deliver ITPC’s mission to enable people in need to access optimal and affordable HIV treatment through education, demand creation, community-led monitoring and interventions to make medicines more affordable. Solange has over 15 years of global programme management and advocacy experience and specializes in monitoring and evaluation. She has a depth of knowledge in social epidemiology, health financing and community systems strengthening through her work on USAID/PEPFAR health and development and other bilateral and multi-country initiatives across Africa and Asia. She earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from Tuskegee University and her Master of Science in Population and International Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. Solange is committed to ensuring that the voice of affected communities contributes to and influences the decisions and policies that affect their lives.

Aarhus University Hospital Denmark


Thomas Aagaard Rasmussen is a physician and clinical researcher from Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, with an MD and PhD from Aarhus University, Denmark. In 2014, he completed his PhD, which focused on the clinical use of histone deacetylase inhibitors to reverse HIV latency and induce elimination of HIV-infected cells. As a clinician scientist, he is actively engaged in clinical and translational HIV cure research. His studies are focused on understanding HIV persistence on antiretroviral therapy and developing and testing interventional strategies for the elimination of latently infected cells as a strategy towards a cure.

University of North Carolina Project-China


Weiming Tang is the Co-Director of the University of North Carolina Project-China, Associate Professor of UNC-Chapel Hill. Dr Tang is an epidemiologist, with an emphasis on HIV epidemiology and implementation science. His research focuses mainly on promoting HIV testing and healthy behaviour change through innovative approaches. Specifically, he is interested in using crowdsourcing and other participatory methods to enhance health services among key populations. He has been engaged in the use and promotion of new intervention strategies for promoting HIV self-testing among men who have sex with men.


Written by Adekoyejo Osindero

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Conference 
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