The IAS 2025 Organizing Committee, together with the track members, provide overall planning and guidance for the development of the scientific programme at IAS 2025. This includes curating the abstract-driven and invited-speaker sessions and identifying specific research to showcase at the conference.
Track Committees
Track A: Basic science
Co-lead: Christian Gaebler
Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
Christian Gaebler is a Professor at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, leading the Laboratory for Translational Immunology of Viral Infections and co-leading the Personalized Infectious Medicine programme at the Berlin Institute of Health. Previously, he served as an Assistant Professor at Rockefeller University in New York. As a physician-scientist, his research ranges from basic immunology of viral infections to the clinical development of antibody immunotherapies for infectious diseases, with a focus on HIV. Christian’s contributions have earned him significant recognition, including the 2021 Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Award and the 2023 German AIDS Award from the German AIDS Society.
Co-lead: Gabriela Turk
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida, Argentina
Gabriela Turk is a basic researcher specialized in virology working at the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida (INBIRS) in Buenos Aires. Gabriela obtained her PhD at the University of Buenos Aires in 2008 and, since then, has led a research group focused on studying aspects of HIV immunity and immune pathogenesis and its correlates with virus control and persistence. Currently, she holds an independent researcher position sponsored by the Argentinean National Research Council and a teaching position at the School of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires.
Fernanda Heloise Côrtes
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil
Fernanda Heloise Côrtes is a biologist and researcher at Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She earned her PhD from the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in 2014 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in 2022. Her research focuses on the immune response and immunopathogenesis of HIV, particularly HIV controllers and acute HIV , with emphasis on inflammatory markers and T cells. She has also investigated inflammation markers related to cardiovascular diseases in elite controllers, as well as the impact of chronic immune activation on the immunogenicity of the yellow fever vaccine among people living with HIV. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has concentrated on understanding the role of T cell responses in SARS-CoV-2 infection and long COVID.
Henning Grüll
University of Cologne, Germany
Henning Grüll is a physician-scientist and attending physician at the Institute of Virology at the University Hospital Cologne. He completed medical school at the University of Münster and received a doctoral degree for research on HIV antibodies conducted at the Rockefeller University in New York. After training in internal medicine, infectious diseases and virology at the University Hospital Cologne, he became board certified in medical microbiology and virology. By combining basic and translational research, Henning aims to contribute to the development of effective antibody-based strategies against viral pathogens. In the lab, he aims to elucidate the interaction of viruses and antibodies on a molecular level and to identify effective strategies for immunotherapy of viral infections. To advance preclinical findings, he has implemented several academic Phase I and II clinical trials of neutralizing antibodies and novel strategies for their application to target viruses such as HIV-1.
Marianne Mureithi
University of Nairobi, Kenya
Marianne Wanjiru Mureithi is the Chair of the Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Nairobi's Faculty of Health Sciences and the Team Leader at KAVI-Institute of Clinical Research (KAVI-ICR). She also serves as an Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Washington. Specializing in mucosal immunology in HIV, Marianne has made significant contributions to understanding HIV transmission and prevention. Her work, supported by prestigious grants, such as from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, includes mentoring the next generation of scientists and building research capacity in Kenya and globally.
Reena Rajasuriar
University of Malaya, Malaysia
Reena Rajasuriar is an Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine, University of Malaya, and an Honorary Fellow at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Melbourne University, Australia. She was awarded her PhD in immunology by Monash University, Australia. She is a principal investigator at the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA), University of Malaya, and coordinates the translational research programme in HIV immunology and ageing at CERiA. Her research focuses on the immunopathogenesis of ageing in people living with HIV and its interaction with functional ageing outcomes. Her interests include understanding how integrated HIV care can best be implemented in resource-limited settings to promote healthy ageing.
Sarah Palmer
University of Sydney, Australia
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 in Australia. Her principal areas of research interest are molecular and medical virology and the application of innovative techniques and assays that provide new insights into disease pathogenesis and treatment. Her current work focuses on understanding the genetic characteristics and dynamics of persistent HIV across a range of tissues and cells to guide and assess treatment interventions designed to reduce persistent HIV reservoirs and inform HIV eradication strategies. Sarah has her PhD in medical sciences (virology) from the Karolinska Institutet and conducted her postdoctoral studies at the Center for AIDS Research, Stanford University Medical School.
Track B: Clinical science
Co-lead: Julien Nyombayire
Center for Family Health Research (CFHR), Rwanda
Julien Nyombayire is a research clinician and current Executive Director at CFHR, established in Rwanda in 1986 and formerly known as Projet San Francisco. With more than 14 years’ experience in clinical research, Julien has served as an investigator in several observational cohort studies, as well as multicentre clinical trials of preventive vaccines and therapeutics in infectious diseases. He was recently principal investigator for the first-ever Phase 1 clinical trial of an mRNA HIV vaccine candidate conducted in Africa and co-investigator of the first large Phase 3 Ebola vaccine trial among pregnant women in Rwanda. He also has extensive experience in the management of large infectious diseases prevention programmes. Julien holds a degree in general medicine and surgery from the National University of Rwanda and a Master’s of Science in clinical trials from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He has been an IAS Member since 2021.
Co-lead: Roy Gulick
Weill Cornell Medicine, USA
Roy Gulick is Rochelle Belfer Professor in Medicine and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Weill Cornell Medicine and Attending Physician at the New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. Roy’s research interests include designing, conducting and analysing clinical trials to refine antiretroviral therapy strategies for HIV treatment and prevention and assessing antiretroviral agents with new mechanisms of action. He currently serves as principal investigator of the Cornell-New Jersey HIV Clinical Trials Unit of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group and the HIV Prevention Trials Network, sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He also serves as the Co-Chair of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Panel on Clinical Practices for Treatment of HIV Infection and Co-Chair of the U.S. NIH COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel.
Claudia Cortes
Universidad de Chile, Chile
Claudia Cortes is an internal medicine physician and infectious diseases specialist. Since 2005, she has been dedicated to HIV and AIDS in client 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 the former Vice President of SOCHINF. She is a consultant for the Chilean Ministry of Health, has worked on 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. Since 2020, she has served on the IAS Governing Council.
Gail Matthews
Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Australia
Gail Matthews is Head of the Therapeutic Vaccine and Research Program (TVRP) at the Kirby Institute, UNSW, as well as Head of Infectious Diseases at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. She has a strong background in HIV, viral hepatitis and strategic therapeutic clinical trials. As Head of TVRP, she leads several international clinical trials in HIV and COVID-19, as well as national projects in HCV and HBV. She works clinically as a specialist in HIV, infectious diseases and viral hepatitis at St Vincent’s Hospital and is a National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Fellow.
Kara Chew
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA
Kara W Chew is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Center for Clinical AIDS Research and Education (CARE) at UCLA. She is an infectious diseases clinician and clinical translational investigator whose research focuses on clinical trials of therapeutics for COVID-19 and HIV remission. She directs the UCLA-Charles Drew University Center for AIDS Research Clinical Science Core and leads the UCLA CARE Center Clinical Research Site for NIH Division of AIDS HIV Network treatment and prevention trials. She earned a BA and MD through the Program in Liberal Medical Education at Brown University, completed clinical training in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and clinical and research training in infectious diseases at UCSF, where she also earned a Master of Science in clinical research.
Karine Lacombe
Saint Antoine Hospital, Paris, France
Karine Lacombe is an infectious diseases specialist whose clinical practice, teaching and research focus on viral infections. She graduated from Pierre et Marie Curie Medical University, Paris, and completed her residency at St Antoine Hospital, Paris, and St André Hospital, Bordeaux. In 2006, she got her PhD in epidemiology on HIV/hepatitis B co-infection and the determinants of liver fibrosis. She became an Associate Professor in Infectious Diseases in 2007 and got a full professorship position at Sorbonne University in 2016. She is an international leader in chronic viral infections and has lectured at international conferences. In March 2020, she became deeply involved as a clinician and researcher and at a political level in management of the COVID-19 crisis. She has been involved in the development of numerous innovative drugs. She heads the Infectious Diseases Department in St Antoine Hospital and supervises the clinical research commission of the Board of Physicians of AP-HP.
Omu Anzala
University of Nairobi, Kenya
Omu Anzala is a Professor of Virology and Immunology in the Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Nairobi. As its first Director, Omu pioneered the establishment of the Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative (KAVI), initially as a research unit at the University of Nairobi, and later as an institute at the university. This expanded KAVI research to include infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases and knowledge synthesis and translation. Omu’s academic career spans 30 years, and he has vast experience in grant writing, grant management, fostering local and international collaboration, fostering community engagement, training, supervision and mentorship. He holds an MBChB from the University of Nairobi, a diploma in epidemiology from Tufts University, US, a Master’s in infectious diseases and PhD in virology and immunology from the University of Manitoba, Canada, and Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Molecular Immunology Institute, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford University, UK.
Track C: Epidemiology and prevention science science
Co-lead: Benjamin Bavinton
Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Australia
Benjamin Bavinton has worked in the field of HIV prevention and research in Australia and internationally for 20 years. He is a Senior Research Fellow and Group Leader at the Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, focusing on the biomedical, behavioural and epidemiological aspects of HIV prevention among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and trans women in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Co-lead: Didier Ekouevi
University of Lomé, Togo
Didier Koumavi Ekouevi is a medical epidemiologist working on HIV and its prevention in central, eastern, southern and western Africa in the Public Health Department at the University of Lomé in Togo. He is the head of the Public Health Department and Director of Centre de formation et de Recherche en Santé Publique at the University of Lomé. He is also a senior researcher at the INSERM U1219 research centre at the University of Bordeaux. Didier has 25 years of experience in research on HIV epidemiology and global health. His scientific interest is the public health challenges of HIV prevention and care, especially the prognosis of antiretroviral-treated adults and children and HIV in key populations in West Africa. He has published more than 250 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Gallican Nshogoza Rwibasira
Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Rwanda
Gallican Nshogoza Rwibasira is the Head of National HIV, STIs, and Hepatitis Programs and Division Manager for HIV, STIs, and Viral Hepatitis at the Rwanda Biomedical Centre, the public health-implementing body of the Rwanda Ministry of Health. With over a decade of experience, he has been instrumental in creating and executing strategies to reduce HIV and STI transmission among affected populations. His work includes operational and clinical research to support evidence-based decision making in public health programmes. He has a medical degree and Master's in epidemiology and is pursuing a PhD in public health and epidemiology from the University of Basel, Switzerland. Previously, Gallican worked with ICAP at Columbia University as Project Manager for HIV Case-Based Surveillance, Senior Study Coordinator for the Rwanda Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment Survey (2018-2019), and a clinician in hospitals. He actively participates in national and regional technical working groups to implement HIV, STI and hepatitis programmes.
Heather-Marie Schmidt
World Health Organization (WHO), Switzerland
Heather-Marie Schmidt is the advisor for HIV Prevention Program Implementation, jointly working on the Global Prevention Coalition within the UNAIDS Prevention Team and WHO’s Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programme. She focuses on the Global HIV Prevention Coalition, ARV-based prevention, including the development of global guidance on PrEP and PEP, key populations and country support for prevention scale up and PrEP implementation globally. Between 2018 and 2023, she was the Regional Advisor for PrEP for Asia and the Pacific. She has led and been involved with large-scale studies, including EPIC-NSW and PrEP APPEAL.
Ines Aristegui
Fundacion Huesped, Argentina
Inés Aristegui is a clinical psychologist with a PhD from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and currently serves as Director of the Implementation Research Division at Fundación Huésped in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her work focuses on understanding psychosocial and structural factors that drive health inequities among vulnerable populations, including sexual and gender minorities and sex workers, and on implementing targeted health promotion interventions. Since 2010, she has contributed to over 35 national and international studies on transgender health. She is the principal investigator of TransCITAR, a cohort of 500 trans individuals in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, and serves as Argentina’s investigator for the TransCohort, a collaboration with Thailand, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. She has built strong partnerships with community organizations, employing a community-based participatory research approach.
Pande Putu Januraga
Udayana University, Indonesia
Pande Putu Januraga is a Professor at the Center for Public Health Innovation, Udayana University, and a co-founder of the centre. Over the past 15 years, he has led several large-scale, HIV-focused projects in Indonesia. Notably, PPJ led the first longitudinal studies of HIV incidence among 6,397 men who have sex with men and trans people in Indonesia and managed a national HIV self-testing scale-up programme. PPJ has built an extensive network of collaborators, working with local and international healthcare providers and research institutions. His longstanding ties with overseas academic institutions, including the Kirby Institute and Eijkman Oxford Clinical Research Unit, highlight his ability to foster productive partnerships essential for successful large-scale projects. As Vice Director of Yayasan Kerti Praja, a non-government organization focused on HIV prevention and control, PPJ has first-hand experience in community engagement, which is crucial for conducting longitudinal clinical trials.
Perrine Roux
INSERM France, France
Perrine Roux is a public health researcher with over 20 years of experience in the fields of HIV, hepatitis C and harm reduction. After a two-year postdoc at the Substance Use Research Center in Columbia University, she was awarded the position of permanent researcher at the French National Institute for Medical Research (INSERM) SESSTIM – Unit 1252 in Marseille, France. She is the principal investigator of several mixed-method, multidisciplinary projects related to access to care and prevention for people who use drugs. Perrine currently leads the SanteRCom team (50 persons) in the SESSTIM unit on community-based participatory research on HIV and harm reduction, and has over 80 publications in this field.
Track D: Social and behavioural sciences
Co-lead: Rivet Amico
University of Michigan, USA
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. Rivet’s programme of research includes PrEP uptake and adherence, antiretroviral medication adherence, engagement in prevention and treatment services, and research design in behavioural science. Rivet focuses on person-centred care in the creation, implementation and evaluation of programmes that prioritize the dignity, rights and autonomy of the most impacted communities.
Co-lead: Veronicah Mugisha
ICAP at Columbia University, Rwanda
Veronicah Mugisha is a physician and public health expert with over 35 years’ clinical, research and programme management experience in HIV and AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, epidemic management and disaster management. She earned her medical and postgraduate degrees from Makerere University, Uganda. After working as an emergency physician, she shifted to public health and epidemiology. In 1996, Veronicah joined the Rwandan Ministry of Health, where she was key in revamping the national epidemiological surveillance system. Her leadership roles include Director of Epidemiology and Public Hygiene and monitoring and evaluation advisor for Global Fund projects. Since 2006, she has worked with ICAP at Columbia University, serving in leadership roles across Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Currently, she is ICAP's Country Director for Rwanda and Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment (PHIA) Technical Specialist for Côte d’Ivoire. Veronicah has overseen multiple public health surveys in Africa, including PHIAs in Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Côte d'Ivoire.
Clarisse Musanabaganwa
Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Rwanda
Clarisse Musanabaganwa has over 14 years of leadership experience shaping the national health research agenda and innovation for the health sector. Recently recognized with the African Women Achievers Awards she leads research in cancer, neuropsychiatric disorders, COVID-19 and cardiovascular diseases, with numerous publications. She is a Next Generation Scientist at Novartis, Switzerland, and a postdoc fellow at the University of Rwanda. Clarisse has been a member of the national research agenda steering committee, the chair of a district research challenge steering committee, and the national focal point of the EAC health research commission. She holds a PhD in medical sciences from Radboud University, Netherlands, a Master of Science in epidemiology from the University of Rwanda, a Master’s in international public health from Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, and a Bachelor of Science in biotechnology, biochemistry and genetics engineering from Bangalore University, India. She holds a postgraduate diploma in bioinformatics and clinical research.
Gastón Devisich
Fundacion Huesped, Argentina
Gastón Devisich is the Community Engagement Representative at the Research Department of Fundación Huésped and is one of the two representatives for Latin America and the Caribbean in the NGO Delegation for UNAIDS’ Programme Coordinating Board. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a member of the Latin America and Caribbean HIV Cure Consortium, and is the 2024 recipient of the Omololu Falobi Award.
Joseph Larmarange
Institute of Research for Development (IRD), Université Paris Cité, France
Joseph Larmarange, PhD, is a senior demographer at the IRD, attached to the Population and Development Research Centre, Université Paris Cité. He is the head of the research team, “Health, Vulnerabilities and Gender relations in the global South” (SageSud, ERL Inserm 1244). He is also the co-president of the scientific section on public health and social science (CSS 14) of ANRS (French research agency on HIV, viral hepatitis and emerging infectious diseases). Over the past 15 years, he has been working mainly on HIV in western and southern Africa, specifically on HIV testing and new prevention strategies, in the general population and key populations.
Sybil Hosek
University of Illinois Chicago, USA
Sybil Hosek is a Research Professor and the Director of the Center for Dissemination and Implementation Science (CDIS) in the Department of Medicine at the University of Illinois Chicago. She has over 20 years of experience in the development and implementation of HIV-related research studies and behavioural interventions. She is co-PI of the NICHD-funded Adolescent Trials Network for HIV Interventions (ATN). Her research focuses on primary prevention interventions for adolescents and young adults, including PrEP and microbicides, and the development of behavioural interventions to improve uptake, adherence and persistence to these new biomedical strategies. In addition to obtaining independent NIH grants focused on adolescent and young adult gay, bisexual and trans young people in the US, Sybil has been an investigator on several adolescent and young adult PrEP safety and demonstration studies focused on adolescent girls and young women in central, eastern, southern and western Africa.
Thomas Guadamuz
Mahidol University, Thailand
Thomas Guadamuz's interdisciplinary research focuses broadly on the social and structural mechanisms that contribute to adverse health outcomes for sexual- and gender-minority communities. He uses both qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches, cutting across diverse disciplines, including behavioural, historical, infectious and social epidemiology; cultural and medical anthropology; social psychology; and sociology. His current research focuses on developing and evaluating multi-level interventions to improve the HIV prevention and care continuum for young men who have sex with men in Thailand and Vietnam. Thomas is also interested in ethnographic studies to understand the multi-level contexts surrounding HIV and STI vulnerabilities and resilience, and how syndemics theory can be used to understand the health and well-being of sexual- and gender-minority communities.
Track E: Implementation science, economics, systems and synergies
Co-lead: Michelle Rodolph
World Health Organization (WHO), Switzerland
Michelle Rodolph is a technical officer with the HIV testing, prevention and populations team of the Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes at WHO, based in Geneva, Switzerland. She has more than 20 years of experience working on HIV programmes and policy globally and in a range of clinical and community settings. She leads the antiretroviral-based HIV prevention work for WHO, including the development of policy and guidance on PrEP, PEP and future prevention products. She also focuses on the integration of HIV prevention in family planning programmes and approaches to improve the coverage, impact and acceptability of HIV and sexual and reproductive health services for adolescent girls and young women in eastern and southern Africa. Before joining WHO, she spent almost 10 years living in China, Thailand and Vietnam working on harm reduction and HIV prevention programmes for key populations in the Asia-Pacific region.
Co-lead: Stefan Baral
Johns Hopkins University, USA
Stefan Baral is the Director of the Key Populations Program at the Center for Public Health and Human Rights and a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Stefan completed his training in community medicine at the University of Toronto as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and in family medicine with the Canadian Council of Family Physicians. He provides care in the shelter system in Toronto. Stefan has focused on trying to understand why people continue to be vulnerable to acquiring and transmitting HIV, with a focus on the interactions of structural and network-level determinants with individual-level proximal vulnerability to HIV acquisition.
Brenda Asiimwe Kateera
Clinton Health Access Initiative, Rwanda
Brenda Kateera is a global health specialist, epidemiologist and researcher with more than 20 years’ experience in leading public health programmes, in academia and in policy. She is currently the Country Director for the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in Rwanda, partnering with the Government of Rwanda to strengthen health systems and ensure universal healthcare coverage. Previously, she was the Rwanda Country Director for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Director of the Grants and Research Center and senior lecturer at the University of Rwanda. Brenda has a medical degree from Makerere University, Uganda, and Master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins University. She is currently a visiting scientist and LEAD Fellow at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. She has led and coordinated multi-donor and partner research and training initiatives, has several peer-reviewed publications, and has been an invited speaker at conferences and meetings. She serves on several boards and advisory groups.
Jirair Ratevosian
Yale University, USA
Jirair Ratevosian is an Associate Research Scientist at Yale University and holds appointments at the Duke Global Health Institute and the Center for Strategic International Studies. With two decades of experience spanning public service, non-profit work, the private sector and diplomacy, Jirair has a distinguished track record of advancing global health and human rights initiatives. From 2021 to 2023, he served as Acting Chief of Staff and Health Equity Advisor to Ambassador John Nkengasong at the U.S. State Department. Previously, he led corporate social responsibility in Africa and Asia for Gilead Sciences and was Legislative Director to U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Deputy Director at amfAR. He holds a doctoral degree from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, an MPH from Boston University and a BS from UCLA. His contributions are featured in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Time, The Lancet, New York Times, TheBody and Washington Post.
Marcos Benedetti
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Brazil
Marcos Benedetti is an HIV prevention specialist and social and medical anthropologist with over 25 years of experience in designing, planning, implementing and managing HIV prevention programmes; developing capacity-building strategies; designing behaviour change interventions; conducting quantitative and qualitative research; building partnerships; and advocating for the right to health. His research focuses on HIV prevention, key populations, gender, sexuality and human rights. Marcos developed programmes tailored to key populations in Brazil and Mozambique and contributed to defining Brazil and Mozambique’s HIV national strategies and policies for key populations. He is currently the ImPrEP project manager at the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases at Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he oversees the development of studies aiming to streamline PrEP integration and scale up in public health programmes in Brazil and other Latin America countries.
Miriam Sabin
The Lancet, USA
Miriam Sabin is currently North American Senior Executive Editor at The Lancet. Prior to that, she spent years in Geneva, Switzerland, working at the World Health Organization, the Global Fund, and UNAIDS. She served as Manager of HIV Cohort Studies at the Copenhagen HIV and Infectious Diseases Programme. Miriam worked with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she was part of the Epidemic Intelligence Service and held the role of Senior Research Scientist Officer in both the Division of Viral Hepatitis and the Division of Global HIV/AIDS. She has lived and worked in Tunisia, Bangladesh and Brazil, and holds a PhD in social work from the University of Georgia, USA, where she also worked as an Assistant Professor. Additionally, she earned a MSc in social work from Columbia University, USA, and a BA in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
Omar Syarif
The Positive Indonesia Network, Indonesia
Omar Syarif is an HIV activist from Indonesia who began his advocacy work in 2005 after joining a local support group for people living with HIV. He transitioned from his career in the hospitality industry to focus on outreach for people who use drugs in Jakarta. For nearly two decades, Omar has worked with networks, including the Indonesian People Living with HIV Network, the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV and the Global Network of People Living with HIV, advocating for people living with HIV through policy development and improving access to essential medicines. His contributions include the development of a Presidential Decree in Indonesia to produce generic antiretroviral medicines, supporting global production of generic hepatitis C treatments, and influencing the inclusion of HIV-related stigma targets in the 2026 UNAIDS Global AIDS Target. He also promotes the inclusion of the lived experiences of people living with HIV in academic research.