Governance & Team

Helle Aagaard currently serves as Deputy Director at ReAct – Action on Antibiotic Resistance (Europe), where she is responsible for policy analysis and advocacy on antibiotic R&D and sustainable access to effective antibiotics. Helle has more than 10 years of experience working in the global health policy field, including 6 years in Brussels working for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Access Campaign and as a political advisor in the European Parliament. Helle is originally a trained journalist from the Danish School of Journalism and has a European master degree in Human Rights and Democratisation from the Global Campus on Human Rights in Venice, Italy.

Danjuma is a Hepatitis B patient, advocate and a voice for poor populations. He was infected with Hep B while in clinical rotations and then lost his own mother to the disease several years later. He has a background in microbiology, and an MPH, with over 15 years-experience in public health and advocacy.

Danjuma in 2021 assumed the role of President, World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA), UK. His local charity in Nigeria also works in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention and care, patient safety and antimicrobial resistance and stewardship in Nigeria, working to raise awareness and health care worker’s education to reduce the burden of antimicrobial resistance in Nigeria.

Danjuma is a Senior Fellow with ASPEN Institute, US; Technical Advisor/Member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Strategic and Advisory Committee on HIV, Viral Hepatitis and STIs (STAC-HHS); Executive Board Member Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (CGHE) at the Global Task Force for Hepatitis US CDC; Member AMR Advisory Group of the AMR Patient Alliance; and member of several global networking groups and an accomplished Public Speaker.

Danjuma is a leading voice for Hepatitis patients in Nigeria and uses his platform to advocate for the most vulnerable populations across Africa. Danjuma wants to change the narrative about Hepatitis and raise awareness about the deadliness of the disease, while also promoting other health outcomes such as antimicrobial stewardship and patient safety.

Founder of the Blossom Trust, Mercy Annapoorani has been working for 30 years with marginalised populations in various fields such as women’s empowerment, children’s rights and sustainable agriculture. Mercy’s commitment is particularly strong in the field of health and access to care. Patients suffering from diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis or diabetes are people for whom she acts and wishes to change mentalities and actions. Her commitment to public health issues has materialised in several organisations such as UNITED, Act-A Pillar, Global Fund, GCTA and India CCM. She therefore combines essential field experience with the desire to take a message to a larger scale.

Kwanele Asante is the Former Chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Cancer Prevention and Control, Republic South Africa. She serves on the World Health Organisation’s Civil Society Working Group on Non-Communicable Diseases. Kwanele has received several awards for her African cancer equity activism, including the Harvard Global Health Catalyst – 2016 African Ambassador Award. She serves as a community representative on the South African Medical Council’s Bioethics Advisory Panel and she is a member of the External Advisory Board of the STARS Program at Harvard Medical School, USA.

Asante has a B. A. Liberal Arts (Psychology-Sociology major) degree from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, USA. and LLB and MSc Medicine: Bioethics and Health Law degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Living with type one diabetes ignited Aly’s passion for expanding access to healthcare.

Diagnosed before her fourth birthday, Aly attended a camp for children with diabetes, which gave her a sense of belonging. At camp, she also saw how widespread access issues were in her community.

Early in her career, Aly led diabetes camps in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the United States. Later, at the Helmsley Charitable Trust, her projects focused on increasing global access to diabetes care and insulin. She also worked at Public Citizen, campaigning for policies to make COVID vaccines available to all.

Involvement with Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, first as a student activist and currently on the Board of Directors, has intensified Aly’s commitment to pushing for affordable healthcare.

Aly lives in Washington, DC, in the United States and works for a global advocacy organization that focuses on HIV.

Based in Brussels now, but formerly from Kyiv, Ukraine. Master’s degree in international economy. Globally known activist of the community of people who use drugs and OST patients, people living with HIV and lived experience with HCV. Since 2010 started his work in HIV and TB-service, Harm Reduction and advocacy field in local and national NGOs in Ukraine. Since 2013 worked for international Alliance for Public Health, coordinating international and national projects of HIV, TB, viral hepatitis prevention and treatment among key populations as well as advising on Communities, Rights and Gender issues. Author of different articles, guidelines and publications for communities and professionals. Founder of PUD.UA. Board member of INPUD and EKPC (a-ka EKHN). Member of the Communities Delegation of the Global Fund Board and CCM of Ukraine. Since 2021 he is a Programme Manager on Quality of Life in EATG team.

Javier Hourcade Bellocq has been academically trained as a social communicator, journalist and science communicator. In 1988 he started working in HIV activism after his diagnosis as a person living with HIV. He later specialises in activism and treatment literacy. He has worked for the last 35 years in NGOs in Argentina, where he lives, and promoted community networks in Latin America and also worked at International NGOs with global coverage. He is editor of Corresponsales Clave and Coordinator of the HIV 2025 Platform. He has served on the governing boards of UNAIDS, Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) and currently in the board of the Global Fund and UHC2030. He was a member of WHO and PAHO technical advisory committees on HIV, TB, Hepatitis and STIs.

Denise Ejoh (Ph.D) is the CEO of Cormode cancer Foundation, an NGO founded following the death of her mother Margaret Ann Ejoh and who now lives with cancer. Denise was diagnosed with breast cancer metastasising in the brain. She has undergone three brain surgeries and had gamma knife surgery (using radiology) to remove seven tumours and undergone different treatment regimens to shrink four to five more tumours using chemotherapy. She is in active treatment following her last brain surgery in March 2022, when she was informed the cancer was still active and is now on a new drug regime.

Denise completed a Ph.D. in Education specialising in Leadership, Policy and Change in 2020 and was awarded the Social Change Award for her drive in cancer education against all the odds. Her NGO was registered in 2020 focusing primarily on education through cancer awareness advocacy.

Denise hosts a program on AIT called Kakaaki Cancer Awareness and Cancer with Dr Denise Ejoh on Plus TV Africa, and Arise which provides a range of stakeholders the platform to discuss the challenges faced by cancer patients, family, friends, medics, and support groups on how to navigate through the different stages.

She continues to be a been a patient advocate as a guest speaker on various TV and Radio programmes in Nigeria, USA and the UK including articles in local and international forums to include the ThisDay newspaper.

Denise is working with various groups to collate and develop material in various Nigerian languages to support the illiterate communities across Nigeria and the global. She has returned to writing academic papers and is writing a book on her lived experience. She has a YouTube channel that houses over 80 awareness videos for your perusal.

Christine Fallabel has been working in the diabetes and public health space for over a decade to improve health insurance and access to care and lower the cost of prescription drugs in the United States for people with chronic diseases. Additionally, she is a health and science activist and writer who has been featured in Diabetes Daily Grind, Insulin Nation, Diabetics Doing Things, and is a regular contributor to Diabetes Strong, Beyond Type 1, diaTribe, and Healthline. She earned her Master of Public Health from Temple University and received her bachelor of arts degree from The University of Delaware. She serves on the board of directors for Connected in Motion. She has lived with type 1 diabetes for 23 years and resides in Denver, Colorado, with her husband.

Cindra is a Senior Program Manager at AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention. She co-manages its various advocacy programs in the US, Europe and Africa. She sits on the steering committees of IRMA (International Rectal Microbicide Advocates) and the Wits RHI Key Populations Programme. Cindra held staff positions at US-based POZ and HIV Plus magazines and has been published in various journals throughout southern and eastern Africa. She also worked with groups including the Lesbian Avengers and Sex Panic!, a sexual activism group dedicated to pro-queer, pro-sex worker and anti-racist campaigns for sexual freedom in the age of HIV and AIDS.

Louis Da Gama serves as Board Director for the Princess of Africa Foundation South Africa and Humanitarian Adviser to South African Musician and celebrity Yvonne Chaka Chaka. He also serves as a Non-Executive Director for Global Health Advocates France. He has campaigned globally, regionally, at country and community levels for greater financial and human resources to fight malaria and TB. His work focuses on advocacy for policy change and effective implementation, transparency, good governance, and accountability. He facilitated the setting up of the Malaria Foundation International European Office in 1998. In 2003, he was seconded to the Massive Effort Campaign, the predecessor to Global Health Advocates, working on advocacy for AIDS, TB, malaria, and maternal, child and newborn health and nutrition. He also works on advocacy in support of the Global Fund since 2002 and Unitaid since 2006.  He is a member of the Communities Delegation on the Global Fund and Unitaid Boards.

Dr. Apoorva Gomber is a physician from India interested in global health centered around pediatric diabetes, health equity, disease epidemiology, and improving access to care in low- and middle-income countries. She graduated with a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) in the Department of Global Health and Population from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She now works as Associate Director of Advocacy at the Center for Integration Science, Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Gomber has worked on various advocacy initiatives with global organizations to improve access to insulin and understanding of childhood diabetes. Her research interests focus on overcoming health disparities in diabetes care globally and looking for solutions to complex problems using evidence-based data and cross-sectoral collaborations. She also serves as one of the WHO Technical Advisory Group of Experts on Diabetes to further WHO’s leadership and coordination role in promoting and monitoring global action against diabetes.

Apoorva served as the South East Asia Regional Representative-elect from 2017-2019 for the Young Leaders in Diabetes Program by International Diabetes Federation and the Young Leadership Program at NCD Child.

Apoorva advocates for overcoming stigma among people with diabetes and preventing diabetes-related complications. Outside of research and advocacy, she spends her time traveling, hiking, and running marathons.

Bahati Thomas Haule is a Tanzanian young woman with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. She is a passionate and dedicated individual who strives toward the development and betterment of people living with HIV/AIDS, Adolescents Girls, and Young Women (AGYW) and all marginalized groups in her country and at a global level at large through advocacy, research, policy, and programmatic works.

She is dedicated to ensuring equity, gender equality, human rights, sexual and reproductive rights, and responsible HIV/AIDS accountability in her country and internationally as well.

Her experience ranges from being a Commissioner at the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) which coordinates the national HIV & AIDS response and advises the Prime Minister’s Office on HIV policy matters where she still serves, a program coordinator at Dignity and Wellbeing of Women living with HIV in Tanzania (DWWT), a project officer in the National Council of People living with HIV and AIDS (NACOPHA) in Tanzania under their UNICEF’s projects, a community lead in AFROCAB’s AHD program in Tanzania and a young leader in IAS22 cohort.

She also has advisory roles experiences as a board member in ATHENA network, a community advisory member in the EFFECTS trials taking place in Tanzania and an Independent Advisory member in NIHR’s IMPRINT group.

She’s part of the PEPFAR’s COP and global fund processes in her country and has various community engagement and associations at regional and global levels.

Kenneth is a World Bank scholar 2022-2023 studying Master in Public Health International at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. He is the Founding Executive Director of the National Organization for People Living with Hepatitis B (NOPLHB) the only patient driven Non-Governmental Organization advocating for the rights of Hepatitis B patients in Uganda. He is also the Founder of the Africa Hepatitis Initiative (AHI). He is also a member of the Hepatitis Technical Working Committee of the Ministry of Health, Past Executive Board Member for the African Region at the World Hepatitis Alliance. Kenneth sits on several international committees and boards for several international organizations like The Hepatitis Fund, Global Community Advisory Board for Hepatitis B Foundation and others. Kenneth was one of the judges during the WHO Hepatitis testing contest that emerged into the Hepatitis B and C testing guidelines.

He organized the African Hepatitis Summit 2019 held in Kampala that brought over 600 regional and global leaders working on viral hepatitis for a high-level meeting that led to the Egyptian support towards the treatment of hepatitis C patients in Sub Saharan Africa. Kenneth engages stakeholders at all levels from ministries of health to everyday persons from communities. His experience has offered him an opportunity to understand how a disease such as hepatitis affects persons and communities.

Kenneth can identify issues of concern and effectively bring these issues to the table for policy, program planning and communications. His understanding of the complexity of issues faced by patients in his previous position has guided his ability to simplify complex concepts so that they are readily understood in oral and written messages by persons in all stages of society.  Kenneth’s leadership of the special initiatives has set him apart as one who values service above self. Kenneth is the face of hepatitis patient advocacy not only in Uganda but also in Africa. He comes with over 10 years’ experience in patient advocacy, policy and systems strengthening.

Mridula Kapil Bhargava, a public health professional and alumna of Hadassah Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. She has a work experience of over 10 years in the healthcare and development sector and works as a public health consultant with multiple organisations in the field of Non-Communicable Diseases. Her proposal for a patient advocacy platform has been recently incubated at IIM Bangalore, one of the top business schools in Asia and the world and is well known for her innovative ideas and strategies in Healthcare interventions.

Mridula is also the founder of Diabetes Fighters’ Trust, a not-for-profit focused upon prevention as well as better management of Diabetes in urban and rural India using the concept of community ownership. She is passionate to help people with Diabetes better manage their condition by empowering them with the essential tools according to their individual as well as population needs. She herself has had type-1 Diabetes for past 30 years and strongly believes that her personal as well as professional experience can extensively contribute towards Diabetes education, policy-making and patient empowerment.

She is currently the fellow of WomenLift Health India, first cohort of Global Health Leaders and has also been selected as the #dedoc° voice 2023.

Since recovering from TB in 2016, Olya has dedicated her life to changing the way TB patients are treated in Ukraine, and ensuring that everyone seeking treatment is aware of their rights. In 2018, Olya was one of the founders of TBPeopleUkraine – a charitable organisation dedicated to uniting the efforts of TB survivors, affected communities, and all those fighting TB in Ukraine. With support from the Global Fund, TBPeopleUkraine has increased its regional representation and expanded its overall impact across the country.

Maureen Luba, is the Program Manager at Cooper Smith, where she helps coordinate the “Data for Action” project funded by the Gates Foundation whose objective is to enhance the health systems and service delivery in Malawi through cutting-edge technology and solutions and availability of real-time data for informed decision-making.  Prior to her role at Cooper Smith, Maureen was a senior program manager at Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention (AVAC), where she led the capacity-building efforts of Civil Society Organizations in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Malawi. Through her guidance, these organizations were empowered to take an active role in shaping key policies and processes, including those of the Global Fund, PEPFAR, and national policy-making.

Maureen is a Global Health LEAD Fellow of 2019 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration. Currently, she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Global Health Delivery at Harvard Medical School, further solidifying her expertise in the field

Loyce Maturu is a young woman living with HIV, she is an experienced primary healthcare advocate with a special focus on HIV and mental health. Over the years, Loyce has been recognized at the national and global level for her extraordinary commitment to improving the needs, health, and hope of paediatrics, and young people living with HIV through influencing policy, strategies, and guidelines. Her recent work can be traced through her engagement in various platforms, as a certified member of the Ministry of Health and Child Care National Validation committee for dual EMTCT of HIV and Syphilis in Zimbabwe. A member of the WHO Advisory Group of Women Living with HIV. She has influenced the writing process of the WHO SRHR Toolkit for women living with HIV. She is a mentor for the Global Fund Advocates Network Speakers Bureau (GFAN) where her role is mentoring and building the capacity of the speakers to solidify messages to fund the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Loyce has been a pioneer and led in full force the advocacy movement within Zvandiri, where she is currently employed. She was also one of the voices behind the Zvandiri Radio program through ZiFM as the co-Host, which was funded by UNICEF. In 2017- 2020 she led and coordinated the successful implementation of the Zvandiri Cluster Randomised Trial Study in Shamva District –Zimbabwe, which measured the effectiveness of peer-led interventions.

Salomé Meyer has been directing the Cancer Alliances’ Access to Medicine Campaign focussing on equitable and affordable access for high cost cancer medicines in South Africa. As a member of the Fix the Patent Law Campaign the focus on patent law reform is supported by the detailed report Exploring Patent Barriers to Cancer Treatment Access in South Africa: 24 Medicine Case studies.  Under her leadership the Cancer Alliance published two dedicated reports that identified the specific access and affordability issues in both the public and private sectors. The seminal report Cost of Cancer is now used as a basis for dedicated focus on solution based collaborations with a variety of stakeholders including government, industry and private sector.  Her work has allowed access to essential medicines such as trastuzumab and lenalidomide for the majority of patients that access the public sector which constitutes 84% of the population. The use of Competition Law is another example of how the various access issues are addressed. In 2022 she initiated a policy research project in 2022 focussing on a legal framework for cancer care access from a human rights perspective which will lead the Cancer Alliance’s advocacy strategy for the future. Salomé holds a masters in Social Work from the University of Cape Town and worked in community development before entering the cancer advocacy space in 1998. She has an illustrious track record of 25 years as an advisor, advocate and activist. Salomé is a member of the NGO delegation of UNITAID for cervical cancer and also serves on the Women’s Empowerment Cancer Advocacy Network for Africa (We Can). She served on the WHO Global Breast Cancer Initiative Technical Working Group. She has participated in many international forums promoting equitable cancer care access.

Nombeko Mpongo is an HIV and AIDS activist and an advocate for change. She holds 2 honours degrees in both Counselling Psychology and Social Behavioural studies. Nombeko has been involved in HIV/AIDS field since 1995 as a peer educator in High school. She currently leads Community Engagement for Desmond Tutu Health Foundation in Emavundleni Clinical Research Site. As the Community Liaison Administrator, Nombeko works and supports different stakeholders and presents HIV care, treatment, and prevention strategies in global, national, and local platforms. She has recently joined UPCSA (United Presbyterian Church) Southern African Health and Wellness desk as advisor to the General Secretary and the team.

Gertrude Nakigudde defeated breast cancer 21 years ago, a co-founder and a Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda Women’s Cancer Support Organisation (UWOCASO).

Gertrude has been developing cancer advocacy and awareness campaigns for the last 20 years. She participated in developing Uganda Breast Health Care guidelines supported by University of Washington and participated in several working groups including  Breast Health Global Initiatives(BHGI), European School of Oncology(ESO)’ Advanced Breast Cancer(ABC)  Consensus all   working to improve survival of breast cancer patients. Gertrude is a member of the Board of Directors of Uganda Cancer Institute. Prior to this, Gertrude participated and graduated  in scientist–survivor programs run by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) a program that jumpstarted her advocacy and  devotion to create a better understanding of cancer in Uganda and make cancer treatment affordable, timely and of high quality for all cancer patients. Gertrude holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Makerere University, a diploma in Business Administration from Uganda college of Commerce and a certificate in Leadership in Strategic Communication.

Peter Ngo’la Owiti is the executive director and founder of a community based organization in Kenya formed in the year 2000 to advocate for prevention of HIV and TB, diseases that claimed 13 members of his family. He has over 20 years’ experience working with communities on Tuberculosis and HIV and AIDS at the youth friendly facility in Wote town where the youth and community at large get none intrusive HIV and TB services including Covid 19 information. He is a global advocate for access to quality healthcare services as human rights interventions. He has a Master’s degree in Agriculture and policy development and is on a doctorate degree program in public health (Community Health)

He has expertise in community health systems and participatory methodologies having worked in rural area for many years as an implementer of Global Fund Round, Stop TB Partnership funds, Amref Health Africa, Geneva Global Inc. among others. He is a reviewer of abstract at the international Union against TB and Lung diseases and co-author of “Environmental health challenges of the 21st century” and reviewer of “The deadly divide, Realities versus Targets on the ULNM declaration on TB. He is a reviewer of abstracts at the International Union against TB and Lung Diseases and two times member of the Union Community Advisory Panel (UCAP)

At National level he is a member of the think tank of Network of TB Champions in Kenya and member Global Fund TB Constituency. Globally, serves on the country preparedness, vaccine and diagnostics working group, ACT-A principals  group and represents community at ACT-A facilitation council. He is also a member of the ACT-A Global Covid Community Board (GCCB). He is also a member of Stop TB Partnership  affected community delegation and an executive board member, the treasurer TB Proof of South Africa -a health care workers organization fighting TB.

Yvette Raphael is currently the Executive Director of Advocates for the Prevention of HIV in Africa. She serves on the Board of Trustees of MTV Base Staying Alive. In 2018 she founded #Pozie clothing brand which she runs with her daughter Yisha. Yvette Alta Raphael is a consummate leader in the fight against HIV. As a woman who has been living with the virus for over 19 years, she has experienced firsthand what HIV stigma, insufficient prevention education, and reduced access to healthcare can do. She utilized her natural leadership abilities to co-found the Tshwaranang Care Center for People Living with HIV & AIDS (PLWHA). Ms. Raphael has spoken around the globe including several International AIDS Conferences to advise researchers, advocates, and policy makers on how to best win the war against HIV and AIDS.

Her passion has been to improve the health outcomes for young women and girls, but her trusted expertise has also been lent to developing policies at the work place and to create better, more efficient structures to utilize the available governmental resources to End AIDS.

Furthermore, Ms. Raphael is a trusted globally renowned advocate on effective and efficient education to the community regarding new and developing research for medications that treat and/or prevent HIV. Yvette is featured in the 2018/2019 exhibition at Smithsonian Museum titled out breaks (those who survive, those left behind). She is Also a member of many Global Community Accountatabilty Groups to hold research accountable

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Ani Herna Sari is an MDR-TB survivor and is also TB Sensitive. Her experience with TB has made her determined to dedicate her time and energy to participate in advocacy for TB control locally and internationally.

She joined a TB survivor group, and also helped establish a local survivor’s organization Rekat Peduli Indonesia. Under her leadership Rekat became the first TB Survivor organization in Indonesia that could access international grants. Currently Rekat receive a grant Challenge Facility from Stop TB Partnership Global. At the global level, Ani is also Global Tuberculosis Community Advisory Board (TB CAB) Member.

Ani also dedicated her career to supporting a stronger TB response in her home country of Indonesia, as well as across the Asia-Pacific region, and particularly working with TB Women – a global network of women in all their diversity who aim to drive a gender transformative TB response.

Ani is part of the new initiative to advance gender responsive TB initiatives for and by women in all their diversity, called TB Women, showing her commitment at all levels of the TB response. She is also GFAN Speaker.

Siripong Srichau is a campaign officer for APCOM. Currently, he is working on the “Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC)” project, which is supported by fhi360. He is responsible for two programs: the Regional Operation Plan (ROP) and the Regional Collaboration Fund (RCF).

Both programmes have the same objective, which is to attain and maintain HIV epidemic control among KPs (MSM, MSW, TGW, and TGSW), Regional Operation Plan will focus more on online outreach with its platform “testBKK.org” which has various online channels including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and website with 160,000 followers and subscribers, it can expand the scope of messaging and service promotion through online platforms as well. testBKK’s online campaign utilizes a strategy that has been proven effective and cost-effective in generating testing uptake with testBKK’s clinic partners – which contributed approximately 20% of EpiC Thailand’s online-to-offline case finding in the previous fiscal year.

Regional Collaboration Funds is the program that transfers and adapts Thailand’s lessons learned and technical capacities to other key focus countries in the region, with a focus on Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, and the Philippines, to accelerate the implementation and impact of epidemic control. This programme also conducts regional online learning and advocacy webinars based on community needs and emerging issues related to ending AIDS by 2030, such as PrEP, HIVST, PEPFAR ROP/COP, Chemsex, Monkeypox, and community-led monitoring. In addition, this program convenes a regional meeting in Bangkok to fast-track the region’s progression of its objective.

Wim is the Liaison Officer at the Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+) in South Africa, supporting the Communities Delegation to the Unitaid Board. For over two decades Wim has been committed to HIV, hepatitis, and TB treatment advocacy, education, and research. Shortly after his HIV diagnosis, he became actively involved in treatment advocacy in Portugal and at European and global levels. He is the founder of the Portuguese Treatment Activist Group (GAT), the former chair and co-founder of the Global TB CAB and has served on the Medicines Patent Pool’s Expert Advisory Group and Scientific Advisory Panel as a Community representative since its creation.

Jacqueline Wambui is the Global CAB Facilitator at the Afrocab Treatment Access Partnership. Jacqueline’s educational background is in HIV counselling and training. She is an HIV-positive treatment and prevention activist who has a special interest in the rights of HIV-positive people and AGYW and advocating on their behalf. She has more than 10 years of experience actively working in programs focused on HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights in Kenya. Her work experience has seen her take the lead in various advocacy campaigns that affect people living with HIV, and AGYW in Kenya, regionally and globally. She also co-led the FASTER Pediatric and Adolescent CAB. Jacqueline is also a consultant with AVAC and is a member of the ECHO Trial Global Community Advisory Group- GCAG and the ANTICOV and IMPOWER CAG.

Jacqueline is the winner of the AIDS 2020 Women, Girls and HIV Investigator’s Prize.

Dr. Stephen Watiti was born on the 11th of May 1953 in Mbale Uganda. Stephen   studied medicine at Makerere University Kampala from 1979-1984 and from 1984-1988, he worked at Rubaga Hospital as medical officer; before moving into private medical practice from 1988-2004.  From 2004- 2013, he worked at Mildmay Uganda, an HIV treatment centre.  With hind sight, Stephen thinks he got infected with HIV in 1986, early in his career as a doctor. Since 2000, he has been on ARVs after going down with TB, cancer and cryptococcal meningitis in 1999. His quality of life greatly improved while on ARVs and he believes that HIV though incurable is manageable if treatment is accompanied with psycho-social support. Stephen loves, gardening, reading and writing and from 2006, he has been writing a column for The New Vision newspaper, titled: “Towards Zero”. He has also authored two books: “HIV and AIDS: 100 Commonly asked questions”, and “Conquering HIV and AIDS: My personal experience of living with HIV”. Dr. Watiti is a regular inspirational speaker on health, especially HIV and AIDS. The parliament of Uganda, Action Aid International, Tearfund UK, the International Christian Medical and Dental Association (ICMDA), TASO Uganda and several other organisations have recognized him for his efforts in fighting HIV/AIDS and the related stigma. Dr. Watiti is the chairman of the Board of Directors for Mbale Regional referral hospital, Board Chair NAFOPHANU the national forum of PLHIV networks in Uganda and, Board member for MJAP, the Makerere Joint AIDS program. He is passionate about stopping new HIV infections and AIDS related deaths plus eliminating HIV associated stigma. Stephen is married to Naomi and they have grown up children.

Friede is the scientific officer responsible for vaccine delivery systems within the Initiative for Vaccine Research (IVR) at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. In this position he is the WHO focal point for matters related to the development of technologies to improve vaccines including adjuvants, stabilization methods needle-free vaccine delivery systems.

Prior to joining WHO Dr Friede held several positions in the vaccine industry: He was Vice President of Development for Apovia Inc. a Californian vaccine development company, prior to which he was responsible for vaccine formulation and vaccine delivery research at Smithkline Beecham Biologicals (now GlaxoSmithKline).Martin Friede received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Danilo is Chief Science Officer and Global Head, External Scientific Affairs for Sanofi Vaccines since October 2021.  He is responsible for external-facing functions of the Vaccines R&D unit, including teams for search-and-evaluation of vaccine candidates and vaccine innovations, scientific network development & partnerships, and external financing.  He has over 25 years of experience in research and development of vaccines and biologics in both pharmaceutical and non-profit sectors.  Prior to joining Sanofi in November 2017, he was the Chief Scientific Officer at Aeras, a non-profit vaccine R&D organization funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. During his 19 years at the Merck Research Laboratories, Danilo contributed to the licensure of Merck’s human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, and the development of novel vaccine candidates and antibodies against multiple viral pathogens and novel immunotherapeutic approaches against cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.  He also served on numerous advisory committees to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Health Program, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, NIH Integrated Preclinical/Clinical AIDS Vaccine Development Program, USAID Malaria Vaccine Development Program, and HIV Vaccine Enterprise. He received his Ph.D. degree in chemistry and post-doctoral training from the California Institute of Technology and the Scripps Research Institute-La Jolla, respectively.

Dr. Graham is the former Deputy Director of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center and has developed novel vaccines and monoclonal antibodies for several viral diseases including the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine for which he has been widely recognized.

Barney S. Graham is an immunologist, virologist, and clinical trials physician with an extensive background in basic and translational research applied to vaccine development. He obtained an undergraduate degree from Rice University, a medical degree from the University of Kansas, and residency, ID fellowship, and PhD from Vanderbilt University where he was an R01-funded investigator before joining  the NIAID Vaccine Research Center at NIH as a founding member in 2000. He retired as Deputy Director of the VRC in 2021 and is now an independent consultant and Senior Advisor for Global Health Equity at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta.

He is an elected member of ASCI, AAP, and National Academy of Sciences. He is recipient of the Robert M. Chanock Award for lifetime contributions to RSV research, the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal Award for contributions to vaccinology, the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, and the National Academy of Sciences John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science. He was named one of the world’s 100 most influential individuals and one of the Heroes of the Year in 2021 by Time magazine and recognized as the Federal Employee of the Year by the Partnership for Public Service.

He is an author on more than 500 scientific publications, and a thought leader on emerging viral diseases and pandemic preparedness. He is best known for his research on RSV pathogenesis, structure-based vaccine design, and application of mRNA delivery technology. He was involved in the advanced evaluation of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies for HIV, Ebola, and Chikungunya, and developed novel vaccines for RSV, influenza, Zika, paramyxoviruses, and coronaviruses including the first COVID-19 vaccine and monoclonal antibody to enter clinical testing and that subsequently achieved Emergency Use Authorization and licensure.

Drew Weissman, M.D., Ph.D. is a professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. He received his graduate degrees from Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Weissman, in collaboration with Dr. Katalin Karikó, discovered the ability of modified nucleosides in RNA to suppress activation of innate immune sensors and increase the translation of mRNA containing certain modified nucleosides. The nucleoside-modified mRNA-lipid nanoparticle vaccine platform Dr. Weissman’s lab created is used in the first 2 approved COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. They continue to develop other vaccines that induce potent antibody and T cell responses with mRNA–based vaccines. Dr. Weissman’s lab also develops methods to replace genetically deficient proteins, edit the genome, and specifically target cells and organs with mRNA-LNPs, including lung, heart, brain, CD4+ cells, all T cells, and bone marrow stem cells.

Duccio Medini leads the 60M$ RNA Readiness and Response program, co-funded by CEPI, to develop standardized, multi-product RNA manufacturing capabilities providing increased access to diverse biologics and sustainable pandemic response.

In executive roles of growing responsibility at Chiron, Novartis and GSK corporations, he led hundreds of data scientists in Vaccines R&D across Europe, US and Asia, holding Research Board, Innovation Board, Clinical Quality Board and Data Governance Board responsibilities.

Working across biological discovery, clinical development and public health, he discovered the pangenome concept co-founding the pangenomics discipline, contributed to the successful registration of four novel vaccines, including the first universal vaccine against serogroup B meningitis, led the Meningococcal Antigen Typing System (MATS) platform worldwide, developed transformative corporate data strategies, authored 50+ publications, books and patents in data science for health, population genomics and mathematical vaccinology.

Prof. Medini received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Perugia, Italy, with a residency at the Northeastern University in Boston, MA; is habilitated Full Professor of Molecular Biology; has served in international PhD school committees at the Perugia and Turin Universities in Italy; is honorary member of the Cuban Immunology Society, Fellow of the ISI Foundation, Strategic Board member of CINI’s Italian National Digital Health Lab; an IMD, ADVAC and UC Berkley alumnus.

Dr. Connie Schmaljohn is the Director of the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF-Frederick) where she provides overall scientific leadership to research activities and oversees collaborative research programs to advance medical countermeasures for highly pathogenic viruses. In addition, she serves as an expert consultant and advisor both nationally and internationally on the development of novel vaccine strategies for highly pathogenic viruses.

Dr. Schmaljohn earned a BS Degree in Microbiology from the University of Nebraska and a PhD in Virology from Colorado State University, after which she joined United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) as a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow.  She continued her career at USAMRIID in multiple capacities culminating with a position as the Senior Research Scientist for Medical Defenses against Infectious Disease Threats for the US Army.  Dr. Schmaljohn’s research background is in molecular virology and molecular vaccine development. She has served as President of the International Society of Hantaviruses, Chair of the American Society for Microbiology Biodefense Conference, and Chair of the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses Bunyaviridae Study Group. She also has served on the Interagency Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasure Enterprise (PHEMCE) Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers IPT, the Board of Scientific Counselors for the NIAID Vaccine Research Center, the Scientific Advisory Council for the Coalition of Emergency Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the Independent Product Group (IPG) for COVAX.  She was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology (2007) and was selected as Fellow of the International Society for Vaccines (2015).  She received the Order of Military Merit (2002), the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States Research Award (2002), the University of Nebraska Alumni Achievement Award (2012), and the Presidential Rank Award (2017).  Dr. Schmaljohn has published more than 200 peer reviewed journal articles and reference works, has edited many books and special journal issues and holds numerous patent awards for vaccine development efforts.

Suhaib Siddiqi is a scientist in the field of infectious diseases, nucleic acids and genomics. As a head of the departments, he led the research and development efforts at various biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.  He was the first director of chemistry at Moderna.

He has a doctorate in Chemistry from the University of Technology, Vienna, Austria. He currently serves as a scientific advisor to various biotechnology companies.  He was inventor of a potent antiviral agent, (-)-5’-Noraristeromycin and Virtual Terminators for the DNA/RNA sequencing.  He has published 31 peer-reviewed papers, and 47 patents.

Kiat Ruxrungtham, MD, is a Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University; and Scientific Chair of the Chula Vaccine Research Center (ChulaVRC); and Director of the Covid19 Vaccine Development Program, ChulaVRC. He is providing teaching and patient care on Allergy -Clinical Immunology and HIV Medicine at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University; and is mentoring junior researchers on HIV medicine, vaccine, immunology, and allergy research and also on clinical trials. He is currently leading the Chula-Covid19 mRNA vaccine development program. He has published more than 360 peer review papers on HIV, immunology, allergy, and vaccine.