IAS 2019 features a best in class line-up of leading scientists, researchers, policy makers and advocates from around the world discussing this year's most cutting edge science and critical global health issues.
Stay tuned as we will be adding to this list as new speakers are confirmed.
Gloria Maimela South Africa
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Scaling up treatment in resource-constrained settings: What will it take to achieve the last 90?
Adam Burgener Canada
The role of microbiome in HIV transmission and pathogenesis
Esteban Martínez Spain
Addressing co-morbidities to improve long-term care of people living with HIV
Paula Cannon United States
Stem cell and genome editing for HIV cure
Ingrid Bassett United States
Barriers to access to diagnosis and treatment
Sherrie Kelly Australia
Sustainability of HIV programmes and financing the HIV response
Asa Radix United States
Lost in translation: PrEP implementation and transgender people
Carlos Cáceres Peru
Key populations in Latin America: Young men who have sex with men
John Frater United Kingdom
Primary HIV infection: An opportunity not to be missed?
Director of Health Programmes at the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI)
Gloria Maimela is the Director of Health Programmes at the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI), the University of Witwatersrand’s largest research institute, based in Johannesburg. Dr Maimela provides strategic oversight and technical direction in implementation of the PEPFAR- and USAID-funded Accelerating Program Achievements to Control the Epidemic (APACE) and Key Populations programme. These two programmes are aimed at reaching epidemic control in South Africa by 2030 through provision of HIV prevention, care and treatment services.
Dr Maimela is a medical doctor with extensive experience in paediatric and adult TB and HIV. At the University of Witwatersrand, she obtained a Bachelor of Nursing and subsequently a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery. She holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Gordon Institute of Business Science and has completed a diploma in HIV Management at the College of Medicine. A key achievement during her tenure at Wits RHI was leading a PEPFAR and USAID programme that had multiple best practices and is recognized as successful by peers. Dr Maimela has been invited as a speaker at local and international conferences and has presented multiple abstracts posters on successful health systems strengthening projects that she has led. She recently added grant writing to her areas of expertise.
Distinguished professor in the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
Paula Cannon is a Distinguished Professor in the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Her research uses genome engineering technologies, such as CRISPR/Cas9 to modify genes in hematopoietic stem cells, with the goal of developing gene- and cell-based therapies for HIV.
Dr Cannon earned her PhD from the University of Liverpool and received postdoctoral training at Harvard and Oxford Universities. In 2010, her team showed that genome engineering could be used to knock out the CCR5 co-receptor gene in human hematopoietic stem cells and thereby create HIV-resistant immune cells. This work led to an ongoing clinical trial in HIV-infected individuals at City of Hope in Los Angeles. Dr Cannon continues to develop new applications for genome engineering, with a goal of applying this technology to treat infectious and genetic diseases of the blood and immune systems.
Senior Director of Research and Education at the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center and a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at New York University
Asa Radix is the Senior Director of Research and Education at the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center and a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at New York University. Dr Radix hails from Grenada and trained in internal medicine and infectious disease at the University of Connecticut and later in epidemiology at Cambridge University.
Dr Radix has over 20 years of experience providing care to transgender and gender non-binary people and directs the transgender health programme at Callen-Lorde. Dr Radix has contributed to national and international guidelines in transgender health. Dr Radix is Co-Chair of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care version 8 working group and a member of the US HHS Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents.
Head of Proteomics at National HIV and Retrovirology Labs at the Public Health Agency of Canada and an Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba
Adam Burgener is currently the Head of Proteomics at National HIV and Retrovirology Labs at the Public Health Agency of Canada and an Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba. His lab specializes in proteomics and systems biology techniques to study host immunity and the microbiome. The focus of his research is to understand mucosal immunity and the microbiome and how these factors play a role in susceptibility, pathogenesis, and treatment of HIV. His lab discovered that the microbiome can affect antiretroviral-based pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention in women. His lab has collaborations with human cohorts in Africa, Canada, the United States and HIV clinical trial groups.
Dr Burgener holds research funding as principal investigator from both the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the National Institutes of Health, which includes a CIHR Mucosal Team Grant for HIV vaccine development. He has received new investigator and scientific achievement awards for his research from the CIHR, Canadian Association for HIV Research and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Director of the Developmental Core and of Mentoring Programs at the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research
Ingrid Bassett is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an infectious diseases physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is the Director of the Developmental Core and of Mentoring Programs at the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research.
Dr Bassett graduated from Harvard Medical School and was an internal medicine resident and Chief Medical Resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital before training in infectious disease at the joint Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women’s Hospital programme. She also earned an MPH from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr Bassett is a member of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council, which advises the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director on HIV-related research at NIH. She has over 15 years of experience leading clinical research in South Africa related to HIV and TB screening and treatment, with a recent focus on community-based interventions. She was the winner of the 2015 HIV Medicine Association Research Award.
Professor of Public Health and Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in HIV, AIDS and Society at Cayetano Heredia University (UPCH)
Carlos Cáceres is a Professor of Public Health and Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in HIV, AIDS and Society at Cayetano Heredia University (UPCH) in Lima. He is also the Director of the Institute of Studies in Health, Sexuality and Human Development. He obtained his MD degree from UPCH and his MPH and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. For more than 20 years, he has led numerous studies on HIV/AIDS and sexual health with populations of men who have sex with men, transgender women and people living with HIV. Currently he is the principal investigator for Peru of ImPrEP, a demonstration project of PrEP implementation in public health systems of Brazil, Mexico and Peru. He has also conducted extensive research on health policy and systems, focusing on the Global Fund and the national response to HIV, as well as on structural determinants of HIV epidemics.
Apart from his research experience, he has served as a consultant to various UN bodies for diverse planning, research and training activities. He coordinates the Network for Multidisciplinary studies in ARV-Based HIV Prevention (NEMUS). He was the founder and Past President of the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society and was a member of the Strategic and Technical Review Panels of WHO/HIV and PAHO/HIV, as well as the IAS Governing Council (2010-14) and the Global Fund Technical Review Panel (2014-18).
Senior Consultant in Infectious Diseases at Hospital Clinic of Barcelona and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Barcelona
Esteban Martínez is Senior Consultant in Infectious Diseases at Hospital Clinic of Barcelona and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Barcelona. He is a member of the Scientific Board of the International Workshop on Adverse Drug Reactions and Co-morbidities in HIV. He has been co-author of the Spanish Guidelines on Antiretroviral Therapy, Metabolic, Kidney, Bone, and Neuropsychiatric Complications in HIV-Infected Patients and the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS) Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Non-Infectious Co-Morbidities in HIV. He has been elected as a Regional (South Europe) Representative for EACS and a member of the Board of Directors of Spanish AIDS Study Group and EACS.
Dr Martínez was a founding member of the International Symposium on Psychiatry and HIV. His interests span antiretroviral therapy strategies, toxicity of antiretrovirals and non-infectious complications and co-morbidities in HIV-positive adults. He has served as a reviewer for Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica (Government of Spain), Agence Nationale de Recherche sur le Sida (France), UK Medical Research Council, South African Medical Research Council, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Brazil), University of New South Wales and University of Dublin. He has also served as a regular reviewer for major journals. He is a member of the editorial boards of AIDS Research and Therapy, HIV Medicine, Journal of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndromes, AIDS and Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
Infectious disease modeller specializing in applied health economics
Sherrie Kelly is an infectious disease modeller specializing in applied health economics. She has over 15 years of experience working with countries across all income levels and global regions, as well as with a wide range of national and international organizations. Dr Kelly has a background in epidemiology and global health with a focus on HIV, TB and maternal and child health. She leads the Burnet Institute's Optima group on HIV, TB and malaria modelling applications and research and also facilitates Optima training workshops and country missions. Prior to joining the Optima team, Dr Kelly worked with UNAIDS and with the Public Health Agency of Canada, having experience in infectious disease emergency response and basic laboratory research.
Medical Research Council Senior Clinical Fellow and Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Oxford
John Frater is a Medical Research Council Senior Clinical Fellow and Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Oxford. He is the scientific lead and co-founder of CHERUB, a National Institute for Health Research-supported UK collaboration dedicated to finding a cure for HIV infection. He also works as an Honorary Consultant Physician in HIV and infectious diseases. The aim of his research is to better understand the reservoir of “latent” HIV infection in treated individuals and to pursue strategies for curing HIV infection with a specific interest in primary HIV infection.