Thumbi Ndung’u

Thumbi Ndung’u is the Director for Basic and Translational Science at the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) in Durban, South Africa; Programme Director for the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE); Professor of Infectious Diseases at University College London; Scientific Director, Professor and Victor Daitz Chair at the HIV Pathogenesis Programme of the University of KwaZulu-Natal; Provost’s Visiting Professor of HIV Virology and Immunology at Imperial College London; Associate Member of the Ragon Institute; and Adjunct Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 

Thumbi graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, completed a PhD in biological sciences in public health from Harvard University, USA, and performed postdoctoral research in virology at Harvard Medical School. He has received awards for scientific excellence and leadership, including the South African Medical Research Council Gold Scientific Achievement Award, the Leadership Award in Public Health Practice from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the KT Jeang Retrovirology Prize in recognition of outstanding work on HIV. He is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences and a member of the United States National Academy of Medicine. Thumbi has served in various leadership and advisory roles at regional and global levels. He is the Executive Director and co-principal investigator of the Africa HIV Cure Consortium and Co-Chair of the IAS Towards an HIV Cure Advisory Board. 

Thumbi has received research grant funding from government agencies, private entities and industry. He has mentored more than 70 postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers and has a special interest in leadership development and translation of science into innovation in Africa. Thumbi recently led as principal investigator the first HIV cure clinical trial in Africa. He has co-authored more than 370 research publications. His research focuses on interactions between HIV and the immune system and how these interactions may be harnessed and translated for HIV prevention or cure.