CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
 

	Professor Moherndran Archary is a NIHR Global Health research professor and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Clinical Medicine and a Paediatric Infectious Disease Specialist in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal/Victoria Mxenge Hospital/Africa Health Research Institute. He specialises in the management of HIV infected children in resource-limited settings. His research interests include antiretroviral drug therapeutics, viral resistance, and the optimal timing of antiretroviral therapy initiation in the developing world. Prof Archary serves on several national and international committees and is actively involved in managing children living with HIV and TB both locally and nationally within South Africa.
	Professor Linda-Gail Bekker (MBChB, DTMH, DCH, FCP (SA), PhD) is the Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, UCT 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, prevention of HIV in women, youth and MSM. Prof Bekker served as President-Elect (2014- 2016) and then President (2016-2018) of the International AIDS Society. She is a A+ rated scientist, has published >800 peer-reviewed papers.
	Dr Louise Gilbert is a South African medical doctor with over 20 years’ experience in HIV medicine, sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, clinical research and programme management. She is currently a Research Clinician at Wits RHI and has previously held leadership roles at Right to Care, Anova Health Institute and Marie Stopes South Africa. She holds a Master of Public Health from Wits University with specialisation in Maternal and Child Health.
	Associate Professor Dvora Joseph Davey (MPH, PhD) is an Infectious Disease Epidemiologist with extensive experience in the design, management and evaluation of HIV prevention and sexual, reproductive health programs. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is based in Cape Town, South Africa where she is an Honorary Associate Professor in Epidemiology at the University of Cape Town. She is the Principal Investigator on several epidemiologic and implementation science studies on sexually transmitted infections, HIV prevention and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in pregnant and breastfeeding women in South Africa.
	Dr Catherine Martin is a Senior Technical Specialist at Wits RHI. She is a medical doctor and epidemiologist with expertise in adolescent and sexual and reproductive health, biomedical HIV prevention, and health systems strengthening. She currently leads a research team conducting implementation science research on the introduction and integration of new prevention products into health services, including long-acting PrEP, contraception, and STI diagnostics.
	Professor Lloyd B. Mulenga (BScHb, MBChB, MSc, MMed, PhD) is an Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases Physician serving as Director of the Infectious Diseases Center of the University Teaching Hospital, in Lusaka, Zambia.  He is Professor of Infectious Diseases and affiliated to the University of Zambia (UNZA) School of Medicine and the Vanderbilt University, School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and the Vanderbilt Institute of Global Health (VIGH) in Nashville, USA.   He practices at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH). He serves on various International and Local Boards. His recent focus has been on improving health outcomes including broadening HIV prevention delivery systems and enhancing digital health systems including digital health information systems. His research focuses on HIV Prevention and Clinical outcomes; HIV drug resistance; HIV and non-communicable diseases; and Infectious diseases epidemiology and clinical outcomes.
	Professor Saiqa Mullick (MBBCh, MSc, MPH, PhD) is the Director of Implementation Science at Wits RHI. Prof Saiqa Mullick is a medical doctor with a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology. She specialises in innovative interventions for HIV, sexual and reproductive health, and the intersections of climate and health. At Wits RHI, she leads a multi-disciplinary team driving implementation science research, policy support, demand creation, market shaping, and large-scale program execution. She is the principal investigator on multiple implementation science studies focusing on generating real-world data on biomedical HIV prevention as part of integrated service delivery for young women and providing technical assistance for introduction at scale. Prof Mullick serves on several national and international technical expert committees, including the national PrEP and STI technical working groups and the WHO STI Global Guidelines Development Group.
	Professor Jeremy Nel is a physician and infectious diseases specialist, and the head of infectious diseases at Helen Joseph Hospital and the University of the Witwatersrand. He completed a transplant infectious diseases fellowship at the University of North Carolina, is past president of the Infectious Diseases Society of South Africa and is an active member of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society. He has published research in the fields of HIV, tuberculosis, nontuberculous mycobacteria, COVID and cryptococcal meningitis, and lead or participated in clinical trials in COVID-19, cryptococcal meningitis, and pneumonia therapeutics.
	Mrs Gugu Shabangu is a Chief Director for HIV and AIDS & STIs in the National Department of Health. Her portfolio includes providing strategic direction in the management of HIV and AIDS and STI’s amongst others. In the past 3 decades she has coordinated different health programs like Mental Health, Nutrition, HIV and AIDS, Maternal and Child Care and others. She has contributed so much in strengthening District Health Systems in her 5 years as a District Director. She has coordinated HIV and AIDS, TB and STIs response as KZN Provincial Council on AIDS Head of Secretariat and her priority has always been placing key population and vulnerable groups in the centre of HIV and AIDS, TB and STI’s response. She has co-authored several Provincial Strategic documents on HIV and AIDS as well as Integrated Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. She holds a master’s degree in public health from University of KwaZulu-Natal.
	Dr Upasna V Singh is senior research clinician, Principal Investigator and Sub-investigator at the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA). She holds a medical degree from SSR Medical College, University of Mauritius (MBBS), a postgraduate diploma in HIV and TB management (PG Dip HIV/TB) from the University of Cape Town and is a Master of Public Health (MPH) candidate at the University of the Western Cape. Her area of expertise lies in HIV treatment, cure, vaccine and microbiome studies. She has been the lead clinician at CAPRISA on the IMPALA study and has particular interest in non-communicable diseases in PLWH. She has worked in collaboration across multiple HIV research studies within CAPRISA and teams across the globe.
	Dr Yashna Singh (she/her, MBChB, MPH) is a medical doctor with at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation Clinical Trials Unit in Cape Town, South Africa, with 10 years of experience in conducting clinical trials in adolescents and adults. She is the site lead for 3 novel injectable HIV treatment and prevention trials and plays a clinical role at the LGBT+ Health Division. Yashna has a passion for HIV and sexual health research in young women and gender-diverse people. She takes an active role in community and stakeholder engagement and is committed to capacity building to ensure equitable access to novel HIV PrEP products.
	Ms Hasina Subedar, Senior Technical Advisor at the National Department of Health in South Africa.  She has provided technical support for the revitalizing and strengthening the Primary Health Care (PHC) system, establishment of ward-based outreach teams, development of PHC staffing norms, and the introduction of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. Hasina has also supported the introduction and expansion of oral HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in South Africa since 2015. More recently she has been involved in supporting the introduction of long-acting HIV prevention products.
	Ms Makhosazane Zondi is a PhD Research Fellow at the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), where she investigates the behavioural dimensions of HIV treatment and cure research. Makhosazane holds a Master of Social Science in Research Psychology, which informs her evidence-based approach to patient engagement, trial participation, and health decision-making. She received the Best Oral Presentation award at the 9th FIDSSA Congress, a milestone that reinforced her commitment to clear, accessible scientific communication. At the core of her research is a guiding principle: ensuring that science and the people share a genuine meeting of minds.

Additional conference speakers will be announced in the coming weeks. 
 

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