Scientific leadership

IAS 2021 Scientific Programme Committee

IAS 2021 will connect the global scientific community virtually around cutting-edge HIV research, clinical innovation and global pandemic response strategies. The virtual conference brings together researchers, health care providers and policy makers for exchange, debate and networking. Additionally, local partners will host select in-person hubs in the original host city of Berlin and potentially elsewhere.

IAS 2021 International Co-Chair (IAS President)

Adeeba Kamarulzaman, Malaysia

University of Malaya

Adeeba Kamarulzaman

IAS 2021 Local Co-Chair

Hendrik Streeck, Germany

University of Bonn

Hendrik Streeck

IAS President-Elect

Sharon Lewin, Australia

Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity

Birgit Poniatowski

IAS Executive Director

Birgit Poniatowski, Switzerland

International AIDS Society

IAS Regional Representative

Cristina Mussini, Italy

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

International Community Representative

Joe Wong, Malaysia

Asia Pacific Transgender Network

Joe Wong

Local/Regional Community Representative

Ricardo Fernandes, Portugal

Grupo de Ativistas em Tratamentos

Track A: Basic science

Reena Rajasuriar, Malaysia

University of Malaya

Reena Rajasuriar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of Malaya, and an adjunct Research Fellow at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne University, Australia. Dr Rajasuriar graduated with her Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) and Masters in Clinical Pharmacy from the University of Science, Malaysia. She was awarded her PhD in immunology by Monash University, Australia. She coordinates the translational research programme in HIV Immunology and Ageing at the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA) and heads the Immunotherapeutics Laboratory at the University of Malaya. Her research focuses on understanding the immunopathogenesis of ageing in people living with HIV and other disease models of accelerated ageing, specifically in cancer survivors.

Michaela Müller-Trutwin Photo_Track A

Michaela Müller-Trutwin, France

Institut Pasteur

Michaela Müller-Trutwin is Professor and head of the HIV, Inflammation and Persistence Unit at Institut Pasteur. She studied at the University of Bonn, obtained her PhD from Paris University in the Barré-Sinoussi lab, and she worked in West and Central Africa. She serves as ANRS coordinator for HIV Basic Science. Her studies have contributed to a better understanding of SIV infection in natural hosts and the role of inflammation in HIV-induced disease. Her work currently focuses on innate immune responses with the ultimate goal to provide novel insights into mechanisms of viral reservoir control and tissue damage protection, contributing to the development of concepts for HIV remission.

Track members

University of Lausanne

Angela CiuffiAngela Ciuffi is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Microbiology of the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and the University of Lausanne (UNIL) in Switzerland. She is also the vice-director of the School of Biology in the Faculty of Biology and Medicine at UNIL. Her research focuses on HIV-host interactions in the context of HIV replication, integration, latency and innate immunity. Her current work uses cutting-edge approaches and technologies, including epitranscriptomic and single-cell analyses, to further characterize the HIV-host cell interplay, capture the cell heterogeneity in response to HIV infection and identify cellular signatures associated with specific HIV-related phenotypes.

Harvard University

Keith ReevesDr R Keith Reeves is incoming Director of the Division of Innate and Comparative Immunology of the Center for Human Systems Immunology at Duke University. Dr Reeves did his PhD at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and was a postdoctoral fellow and faculty at Harvard Medical School. He has extensively studied NK cells and innate lymphoid cells in HIV and SIV infections, including the first characterization of memory NK cells in any primate species. His current research focuses on the role of NK cells in viral pathogenesis and immunological ageing, as well as harnessing NK cells for vaccines and antiviral therapeutics.

Weill Cornell Medicine

Lishomwa NdhlovLishomwa Ndhlovu, MD, PhD, is Professor and Director of the HIV Immunopathogenesis Lab in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Weill Cornell Medicine. After completing medical training, his scientific career began at Tohoku University in Japan where he received his PhD and pursued postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco. His research programme is confronting the challenges of HIV and ageing and is developing specific strategies to prevent, slow or eliminate complications associated with HIV with an emphasis on the brain. He is a member of the International Neuro-HIV Cure Consortium and Co-Editor in Chief of the journal, AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses.

National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD)

Penny MoorePenny Moore is the South African Research Chair of Virus-Host Dynamics and Reader and Associate Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She holds a joint appointment as Honorary Senior Scientist in Virus-Host Dynamics at the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), University of KwaZulu-Natal, and Adjunct Member at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town. She co-directs a team of more than 15 scientists and 10 graduate students who work in the field of HIV vaccine discovery, combining virology and immunology. More recently, her group also started working on SARS-CoV-2, performing serology, neutralization and Fc effector assays.

University of Sydney

Sarah PalmerProfessor Sarah Palmer is the Co-Director of the Centre for Virus Research at The Westmead Institute for Medical Research and Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney School of Medicine. Her research focuses on molecular and medical virology and the application of innovative techniques and assays, which provide new insights into disease pathogenesis and treatment for HIV and COVID-19. She received her PhD in medical sciences (virology) from the Karolinksa Institutet and conducted her postdoctoral studies at the Center for AIDS Research, Stanford University Medical School.

Kumamoto University Hospital

Shuzo MatsushitaProfessor Shuzo Matsushita is a physician-scientist who has been working on clinical and basic science of HIV-1 infection for over 36 years. He is the Director of the Joint Research Center for Human Retrovirus Infection, Kumamoto and Kagoshima Universities, Japan. He is an IAS Governing Council member, representing the Asia and the Pacific Islands region, and the President of the Japanese Society for AIDS Research. He was internationally recognized for his expertise in the field of neutralizing antibodies as early as 1988, including for his identification of the first neutralizing antibody, 0.5β, and its human-mouse chimeric counterpart, Cβ1, that protected chimpanzees from HIV-1 infection.

University of Leuven

Bio pending

Track B: Clinical science

Esper G Kallas, Brazil

University of São Paulo

Esper G Kallas, MD, PhD, is an Infectious Diseases Specialist and Full Professor of Medicine at the Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil, where he directs the HIV/AIDS Outpatient Clinic. He coordinates a clinical site for HIV treatment and prevention clinical trials. Dr Kallas also conducts projects on HIV immunopathogenesis, including senescence, immune activation, cure approaches, novel PrEP strategies and candidate HIV vaccine clinical trials.

Georg Behrens, Germany

Hannover Medical School

Georg Behrens is Professor of T Cell Immunology at Hannover Medical School, Germany. He is a specialist in internal medicine and infectious disease and was trained at the Immunology Division at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia. He is the principal investigator of several national and international studies in HIV medicine and was President of the German AIDS Society from 2011 to 2019. Currently, he is an EACS Governing Board member and Chair of the EACS Treatment Guidelines. He is a NEAT-ID steering committee member, member of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) and Chair of the MD/PhD Programme in Molecular Medicine.

Track members

National Taiwan University

Chien Ching HungChien-Ching Hung is an attending physician of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the National Taiwan University Hospital and Director and Professor of the Department of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology at the National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan. His research interests include clinical management of HIV-related opportunistic infections, combination antiretroviral therapy, amoebiasis, sexually transmitted infections and viral hepatitis co-infections. Dr Hung is a member of the Taiwan Infectious Diseases Society and Taiwan AIDS Society. He is currently the President of the Taiwan AIDS Society and leads the Taiwan HIV Study Group.

University of Chile

Claudia CortesDr Claudia Cortes is an internal medicine physician and infectious diseases specialist. Since 2005, she has been dedicated to HIV and AIDS in patient care and research. Currently, she is an Associate Professor at the University of Chile. She was a member and Chair of the HIV advisory committee of the Chilean Infectious Diseases Society (SOCHINF) and is now Vice President of SOCHINF. Dr Cortes is a consultant for the Chilean Ministry of Health, worked in the development and update of national clinical guidelines for HIV and AIDS management, and took part in several committees involving HIV prevention, testing and treatment strategies. She participates as investigator for the Caribbean, Central and South America network for HIV epidemiology (CCASAnet). In 2020, she was elected to the IAS Governing Council.

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)

Kundai ChinyenzeKundai Chinyenze is a physician with almost 20 years of experience working in East and southern Africa in HIV and AIDS care and treatment and HIV prevention research. She serves in the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) as the Executive Medical Director, Clinical Development, leading the African regional team responsible for the design, implementation, analysis and reporting of clinical trials for candidate HIV vaccines and antibodies. Kundai’s research experience spans microbicides, HIV antibody and vaccine trials. Her goal is to contribute towards the development of affordable, effective HIV prevention tools for populations in need.

Pomeranian Medical University

Miłosz ParczewskiMiłosz Parczewski, received his MD from the Pomeranian Medical University (PMU), Poland, in 2002 and PhD in molecular epidemiology in 2007. He specialized in infectious diseases in 2011 and is currently head and Associate Professor at the Department of Infectious, Tropical Diseases and Acquired Immunodeficiency at PMU. His research focuses on the molecular epidemiology in HIV infection and HCV co-infection: aspects of the genetic variability of the host with key interest in chemokine and interleukin receptor genes, HIV genetic variability, evolution of drug resistance and tropism, phylogeographic tracing of the viral transmission and recombination. He also investigates the association between genetic HIV-1 infection susceptibility and survival and variants of the host associated with drug adverse reactions. He is President of the Polish Scientific AIDS Society, a council member of the European Society on Antiviral Resistance, an editorial board member for the BMJ STI journal and the elected treasurer of EACS.

University College Dublin

Bio pending

Duke University

Thuy LeDr Thuy Le is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University School of Medicine and a Co-Director of the Clinical Core of the Duke Center for AIDS Research at Duke University Medical Center. She leads an international research programme spanning Vietnam, China and Myanmar to reduce HIV-related morbidity and mortality by developing novel diagnostics and treatment strategies for HIV-associated opportunistic infections. She led the multi-centre IVAP trial, demonstrating a mortality benefit of amphotericin B compared with itraconazole as induction therapy for HIV-associated talaromycosis, which has redefined international treatment recommendations. She currently leads an NIH-funded multi-centre study to evaluate a novel antigen detection assay for rapid detection of talaromycosis. She is a member of several leading committees, including WHO Guidelines Committees on Management of HIV and HIV-associated fungal infections.

Johns Hopkins University

Vidya MaveDr Vidya Mave is Leader and Director of the Byramjee-Jeejeebhoy Government Medical College-Johns Hopkins University (BJGMC-JHU) Clinical Research Site, based in Pune, India. She is Associate Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr Mave has nearly 18 years of experience in clinical practice, education and research in infectious diseases. Her research interests include HIV and co-morbid infections, such as TB, as well as co-morbidities (HIV, diabetes) and the use of novel tools (hair PK, whole genome sequencing, host biomarkers) to study TB treatment outcomes.

Track C: Prevention science

Nelly Mugo, Kenya

Kenya Medical Research Institute

Nelly Mugo has 27 years’ experience as a reproductive health specialist, from rural district facilities to Kenya’s national teaching hospital. Her work has largely shifted to research, with a focus on reproductive health and HIV prevention clinical research. Ten years ago, she began working in HIV prevention, with a collaboration with the International Clinical Research Center, University of Washington: she was a Regional Director for the HSV/HIV transmission clinical trial with 14 sites in seven countries in East and southern Africa. Thereafter, she initiated a clinical trial site in Thika, Kenya, part of two landmark HIV prevention trials, the HSV/HIV Transmission Study and the Partners PrEP Study (both with serodiscordant couples), as well as several observational-related studies. Currently, she leads a research team in Thika and works as a senior research scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), heading the sexual reproductive and adolescent child health research programme.oaches, novel PrEP strategies and candidate HIV vaccine clinical trials.

Frits van Griensven, Thailand

Thai Red Cross Society

Frits van Griensven is an expert consultant in HIV epidemiology and prevention with the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre in Bangkok, Thailand, and an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics of the University of California, San Francisco, USA. He started his career in HIV and AIDS in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1983. He received his PhD in medical science from the University of Amsterdam in 1989 and completed his postdoctoral studies in epidemiology at the School of Public Health of the University of California, Berkeley. In 1993, he joined the AIDS Programme of the European Commission to assist with its activities in Asia. In 1995, he became Professor in the Social Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS at the University of Utrecht. In 1998, he took a position with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at its field station in Bangkok. He is widely credited for his role in uncovering the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men and transgender women in South-East Asia and is well known for his innovative models of clinical service delivery for these populations. In July 2018, he was knighted in the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands. He has published more than 250 scientific papers on HIV and AIDS.

Track members

Makerere University

Andrew MujugiraAndrew Mujugira, MBChB, MSc, MPH, PhD, MACE, is a Clinical Epidemiologist and Senior Research Scientist at the Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University, Uganda. He has 12 years of experience with oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) efficacy trials, demonstration projects and implementation science and safety studies. His current research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and focuses on developing methods to build self-efficacy and empowerment, increase antiretroviral adherence and reduce sexual risk behaviours among key populations in Uganda through the use of evidence-based self-controlled HIV prevention tools (HIV self-testing, STI self-sampling, antiretroviral treatment and PrEP).

Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health

Ayden ScheimDr Ayden Scheim is an Assistant Professor in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Drexel University in Philadelphia, USA, and holds adjunct appointments at Western University and St. Michael’s Hospital in Canada. He has over 15 years of experience conducting community-engaged research on HIV prevention, health and human rights among key populations. Currently, Dr Scheim leads transgender health studies in India, Canada and the USA, as well as a cohort study evaluating supervised consumption sites for people who inject drugs.

Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ)

Izukanji SikazweDr Izukanji Sikazwe earned her medical degree from the University of Zambia and completed internal medicine specialty training at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and infectious disease specialty training at the University of Maryland. Dr Sikazwe has worked for several years providing direct clinical care to people living with HIV and other infectious diseases in Zambia. She served as the technical advisor to the Zambian Ministry of Health National ART programme, from 2010 to 2012. In addition to her CEO role, she serves as the principal investigator of a CDC-funded HIV care and treatment award.

PATH

Kimberly GreenDr Kimberly Green is PATH’s Director for Primary Health Care, overseeing six teams, including teams working on HIV and TB. She has nearly 30 years’ experience focused on health service delivery innovations and is passionate about advancing healthcare for all through community leadership and task-shifting, self-care tools like HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and self-testing, and innovative health financing. She holds a Master’s in International Health and Development from The George Washington University in Washington DC and a PhD from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Washington Department for Global Health.

National Cheng Kung University

Nai Ying KoNai-Ying Ko, PhD, RN, is the Director and Distinguished Professor at the Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University. Dr Ko is recognized as an advocate for social justice and health equity and human right advocacy for minority populations in Asia. Dr Ko started the HIV counselling and testing programmes in Taiwan in the early 1990s, initiated HIV case management models in 2005 and published Taiwan’s oral pre-exposure prophylaxis clinical guideline in 2016, all of which became Taiwan’s national HIV policy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Ko has led an interdisciplinary team to develop innovated technology devices (HEARThermo) in the prevention of cluster infections.

Johns Hopkins University

Sunil SolomonSunil Suhas Solomon, MBBS, PhD, MPH, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA. He completed his medical training in India and received a Master’s in Public Health and a doctorate in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins University. Dr Solomon has been elected into the Phi Beta Kappa and the Delta Omega honours societies and has received a Director’s Award from the NIH. His research is primarily focused on the epidemiology, clinical management and access to prevention and treatment services for HIV and viral hepatitis, especially among key populations globally.

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)

Teymur NooriTeymur Noori is a psychologist and works at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) as an expert in monitoring and evaluation. He is primarily responsible for monitoring the HIV response in Europe and Central Asia, including monitoring the continuum of HIV care, and supporting efforts to monitor the response to viral hepatitis in the EU/EEA. He recently led efforts to develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for COVID-19 surveillance, preparedness and response indicators in the EU/EEA. Teymur also leads ECDC work on migrant health and infectious diseases. He recently led ECDC work to develop guidance on screening and vaccination of infectious diseases among newly arrived migrants in the EU/EEA, as well as guidance on infection prevention and control of COVID-19 in migrant and refugee reception centres in the EU/EEA.

Track D: Social, behavioural and implementation science

Frederick L Altice, United States

Yale University

Rick Altice is a Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Yale University and leads Yale’s Center for Clinical and Community Research. His clinical care, research and advocacy work has focused on HIV prevention and treatment issues in key populations, including people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, transgender women, sex workers and prisoners. His interests concentrate on the intersection of HIV and substance use disorders and centre on global health with concentrated activities in eastern Europe, Central Asia, South-East Asia, Peru and the United States. Much of his research and care focuses on implementation science to bring evidence-based practices to diverse cultural contexts.

Till Bärnighausen

Till Bärnighausen, Germany

University of Heidelberg

Till Bärnighausen is the Director of the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health (HIGH), a research centre in the Medical Faculty and University Hospital of the University of Heidelberg, Germany’s oldest university (1386). He is also the Alexander von Humboldt University Professor at the University of Heidelberg, Adjunct Professor of Global Health at the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Senior Faculty at the Wellcome Trust’s Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) in South Africa. Professor Till’s research focuses on designing novel interventions for population health and establishing the causal impact of interventions on population health, social and economic outcomes. In particular, he works on large-scale population health interventions for chronic diseases, such as HIV, diabetes, hypertension and depression, and maternal and child health.

Track members

Washington University

Elvin GengDr Elvin Geng is an infectious disease physician who conducts epidemiological and implementation research to enhance the global public health response to HIV, in particular regarding engagement in HIV care. He directs the Center for Dissemination and Implementation in the Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)

James HargreavesJames Hargreaves is a Professor of Epidemiology and Evaluation, Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Centre for Evaluation and Director of the international Measurement and Surveillance of HIV Epidemics (MeSH) consortium. His areas of research focus cover  evaluation methodology (including impact and process evaluation design and mixed-methods research); HIV prevention (with a focus on behavioural and structural interventions); and HIV epidemiology (with a focus on routine and programme data, social determinants and HIV epidemic dynamics among high-risk populations). His research includes analyses of individual and cluster randomized trials, cross-sectional and cohort studies, systematic reviews and qualitative, policy and participatory research.

National Institute for Medical Research

Joyce WamoyiDr Joyce Wamoyi is a social and behavioural researcher at the National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania. She has an MSc in community health and a PhD in social and behavioural sciences. For over 19 years, Dr Wamoyi has worked on: adolescents and young people’s sexual and reproductive health (SRH) behaviour; structural drivers of SRH risk; HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment; parenting and families and child outcomes; stigma and discrimination in access to SRH services; and qualitative and participatory research methods. She has explored the dynamics of transactional sex in adolescents and young women’s sexual relationships in sub-Saharan Africa.

University of New South Wales (UNSW)

Martin HoltProfessor Martin Holt conducts HIV prevention research with gay and bisexual men. A social scientist by training, he has worked at the Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney, since 2003. Over the past 10 years, he has researched the impact of new forms of HIV prevention, particularly pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and treatment as prevention, on community norms, attitudes and practices, showing, for example, how PrEP uptake can disrupt existing practices, such as condom use. He has been a Deputy Editor of the Journal of the International AIDS Society since 2013. He is the author of over 130 peer-reviewed publications.

University of KwaZulu-Natal

Mosa MoshabelaProfessor Mosa Moshabela, MBChB, MMed, MSc, PhD, is Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and former Dean in the School of Nursing and Public Health. His research portfolio on implementation science and health systems research cuts across multiple disciplines, involves the design, implementation and evaluation of complex interventions in public healthcare services and programmes, and seeks to improve access, quality and equity in healthcare in ways appropriate for resource-poor settings in sub-Saharan Africa. He is currently the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Health in the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).

Institute of HIV research and Innovation

Rena JanamnuaysookRena Janamnuaysook works as a programme manager for transgender health at the Institute of HIV Research and Innovation (IHRI) in Bangkok, Thailand, where she established the Tangerine Clinic as 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 the transgender community. Rena is the programme fellow of the NIH CHIMERA D43 programme, which is part of the IeDEA network to conduct HIV and mental health implementation research. She has also worked as Project Management Specialist in HIV Key Population 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.

University of Michigan

Rivet AmicoDr Rivet Amico is an active contributor in the areas of HIV prevention and treatment, social-behavioural theory development, intervention implementation and evaluation and measurement. Her research focuses on practical work that can effectively advance the reach and quality of HIV care and prevention services available domestically and internationally. Dr Amico’s programme of research includes PrEP uptake and adherence, antiretroviral medication adherence, engagement in prevention and treatment services and research design in behavioural science. Dr Amico focuses on person-centred care in the creation, implementation and evaluation of programmes that prioritize dignity, rights and autonomy of the most impacted communities.

Conference Objectives

Accelerate basic science and clinical innovation

for the development and application of person-centred, precision medicine for HIV, co-infections and co-morbidities and progress towards a vaccine and cure.

Advance interdisciplinary collaboration

in clinical research to improve integrated and holistic care across all life stages for HIV, co-infections and co-morbidities, including non-communicable diseases.

Learn from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

to further explore ways in which HIV science interlinks with and contributes to innovations in response to emerging pandemics and established infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and viral hepatitis.

Strengthen core components of the implementation science

agenda across the HIV prevention-to-care cascade, including approaches for meaningful community engagement and resourcing health systems.

Highlight human rights research

to reduce the personal, social and structural barriers to health and other services for people living with HIV, key populations and other vulnerable communities.

Adeeba Kamarulzaman, Malaysia

IAS 2021 International Co-Chair (IAS President)

Prof Adeeba Kamarulzaman of Malaysia became the first Asian President of IAS – the International AIDS Society – on 11 July 2020 when she began her two–year term. Prof Kamarulzaman is the Director of the Center of Excellence for Research in AIDS at the University of Malaya, which she set up in 2008. She also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Yale University, USA, and chairs the Malaysian AIDS Foundation, a trust that raises funds for HIV- related programmes. As convener of the Malaysian Harm Reduction Working Group of the Malaysian AIDS Council, she successfully advocated for the implementation of harm reduction measures to tackle HIV among people who inject drugs in Malaysia. She was the President of the Malaysian AIDS Council from 2006 to 2010. In 2015, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by her alma mater, Monash University, Australia, for her contributions to medicine and as a health advocate.

Hendrik Streeck, Germany

IAS 2021 Local Co-Chair

Professor Hendrik Streeck is the Director of the Institute of Virology and Professor of HIV Research at the University of Bonn, Germany. He completed his medical training in Berlin in 2006 and received his PhD from Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Bonn in 2007. After completing his postdoctoral fellowship at the Partners AIDS Research Center, he was Assistant Professor at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard and assistant immunologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2012, he was recruited as the Chief of the Cellular Immunology Section of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program and adjunct Assistant Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. In March 2015, he took the chair of the Institute for HIV Research, but remains visiting scientist at the Military HIV Research Program on HIV vaccine and cure research. Currently, he leads the largest systematic study to understand the feasibility of conducting a Phase 3 HIV vaccine trial in Europe and to understand the epidemic of sexually transmitted infections. As a result of the study, the European HIV & STI prevention network was established in January 2019.

Sharon Lewin, Australia

IAS President-Elect

Professor Sharon Lewin is the inaugural director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, a joint venture between the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Royal Melbourne Hospital. She is Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Melbourne, a consultant physician at the Alfred Hospital and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Practitioner Fellow in Melbourne. She is an infectious diseases physician and basic scientist. Her research focuses on understanding why HIV persists on treatment and developing clinical trials aimed at ultimately finding a cure for HIV infection. Professor Lewin is the Co-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Towards an HIV Cure Initiative led by IAS. She is also a member of the IAS Governing Council, representing the Asia Pacific region.

Birgit Poniatowski, Switzerland

IAS Executive Director

With more than 20 years of public health and international development experience, Birgit Poniatowski was appointed to the position of IAS Executive Director in November 2020, following more than five years at the organization leading an expanding team responsible for resource mobilization, sustainable partnerships across diverse sectors and key strategic initiatives. Prior to joining the IAS, she was the Director for Investment and Partnerships at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, and earlier managed partnerships and supported the organization’s multi-stakeholder governance processes at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. She was educated at Bonn and Heidelberg Universities in Germany and International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan. She holds a PhD from Heidelberg University.

Cristina Mussini, Italy

IAS Regional Representative

Dr Cristina Mussini has been Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia since 2011. She is also the Director of the Clinic of Infectious Diseases, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Policlinico, in Modena, Italy. She received her degree in medicine and surgery at the University of Modena in 1987 and completed a specialization in infectious diseases in 1990. Dr Mussini has published more than 200 papers on index journals for a total of above 900, H-index 55 (Google Scholar). From 2009 to 2016, she was a member of the National AIDS Committee of the Italian Ministry of Health. Since 2000, she has been a member of the Governing Board of the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS). She is a member of the Scientific Committees for the EACS and Glasgow European Conferences and a member of the Scientific Committee of the Icona Cohort Study. She is Chair of the ESGIE, ESCMID study group for infections in the elderly. She has taught all over the world, including Turkey, Russia, Iran and Kenya. She organized the first EACS standard of care meeting in Rome to bring NGOs, political stakeholders and clinicians together to discuss HIV in Europe.

Joe Wong, Malaysia

International Community Representative

Joe Wong is a transmasculine advocate and was born in Singapore. As the Executive Director of the Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN), he provides overall leadership and management. He was actively leading in the transgender HIV response well before he assumed his role at APTN in 2010. Joe was the driving force behind the Asia Pacific Trans Health Blueprint, a regional contextual map outlining key challenges, gaps and interventions for transgender people. He has written on and implemented best practices and continues to prove that there can be no real response to the advancement of trans sexual health and human rights without the presence, voices and contributions of transgender people.

Ricardo Fernandes, Portugal

Local/Regional Community Representative

Ricardo Fernandes has worked for several Portuguese NGOs in the field of HIV since 2000, mainly in project and services coordination. He has a degree in modern languages and literature from the University of Lisbon. He is the Executive Director of the Portuguese Group of Activists for HIV/AIDS Treatment (GAT) and is currently the Chair of the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG). He is also a co-organizer of several Portuguese conferences and co-author of studies and articles mainly on stigma, diagnosis and late presentation for HIV care.