Featured speakers | AIDS 2026
Báltica Cabieses Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile View Báltica Cabieses Universidad del Desarrollo, ChileBáltica Cabieses is Professor of Social Epidemiology at Universidad del Desarrollo in Chile. She is a nurse-midwife with a Master’s in epidemiology and a PhD in health sciences. Báltica has been a senior visiting scholar at the University of York since 2011. She is a co-founder, former co-leader and board member of the Lancet Migration Latin American hub and founder of the Chilean research network on health and migration, RECHISAM. Báltica was the Director of the WHO/PAHO Collaborating Centre on Capacity Building for the Health of Migrants and Refugees in Chile from 2024 to 2028. She consults for organizations such as WHO and PAHO on health equity, health of migrants, implementation science research and action in diverse communities. Báltica serves on the Board of the International Network for Research on Inequalities in Chile Health. She has edited 10 academic books and participated in over 70 research projects in Chile and abroad. Immaculate Owomugisha Bazare Centre for Women Justice Uganda (CWJU), Uganda View Immaculate Owomugisha BazareCentre for Women Justice Uganda (CWJU), UgandaImmaculate Owomugisha Bazare is a Ugandan social justice lawyer. She is the Executive Director of the CWJU, leading strategic litigation, advocacy and movement building to advance HIV justice, SRHR and the rights of women, girls and key populations. She serves on multiple regional and global governance bodies, including the Uganda Country Coordinating Mechanism for the Global Fund, the International Community of Women Living with HIV, the HIV Justice Network, the AIDS Rights Alliance of Southern Africa, and the Board of Trustees of the Uganda Key Populations Consortium. She is a member of a range of other bodies, including the UNAIDS HIV and Human Rights Reference Group, the WHO Global Validation Advisory Committee, the Unitaid Communities Delegation, and the Uganda AIDS Commission Technical Working Group on Stigma and Discrimination. Immaculate has led and contributed to precedent-setting litigation in Uganda, challenging HIV criminalization, stigma, discrimination and gender-based violence. Izukanji Sikazwe Global Fund, Switzerland View Izukanji SikazweGlobal Fund, Switzerland Izukanji Sikazwe is a Zambian infectious disease physician, HIV programme implementation leader and clinical researcher. A graduate of the University of Zambia School of Medicine, she further specialized through an internal medicine residency at Good Samaritan Hospital and an infectious disease fellowship at the University of Maryland. She holds a Master of Public Health from Michigan State University and is an alumna of the Africa CDC Kofi Annan Global Public Health Leadership Program. As a principal investigator for PEPFAR-funded HIV prevention, care and treatment programmes in Zambia, Izukanji spearheaded the scale up of life-saving interventions across public health facilities, transitioning direct service delivery to the Ministry of Health. Her research focuses on improving health outcomes for people living with HIV, with contributions to retention strategies, differentiated service delivery models and person-centred care that have informed global HIV guidelines. Izukanji is currently the Head of HIV at the Global Fund. Lishomwa (Lish) Ndhlovu Weill Cornell Medicine, United States View Lishomwa (Lish) NdhlovuWeill Cornell Medicine, United States Lish Ndhlovu is the Herbert J. and Ann L. Siegel Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. He researches HIV and ageing and pioneering strategies to prevent, slow or eliminate complications associated with HIV. Combining immunology, virology and epigenetic methods, he explores molecular mechanisms of HIV pathogenesis and persistence. He co-leads the Martin Delaney Collaboratories for HIV Cure Research, specifically, the HOPE Collabatory, and received an NIH MERIT award for his research on stem cell transplantation leading to HIV cure. He leads the NIDA-funded Weill Cornell-SCORCH consortium, documenting single-cell substance use disorder responses in the brain in the setting of HIV. He is a member of the NIAID Office of AIDS Research Advisory Committee and Co-Editor in Chief of AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2021 and a member of the American Association of Physicians in 2025. Lloyd Mulenga Ministry of Health, University of Zambia and University Teaching Hospital, Zambia View Lloyd MulengaMinistry of Health, University of Zambia and University Teaching Hospital, ZambiaLloyd B Mulenga is an internal medicine and infectious diseases physician who serves as Director of the Infectious Diseases for the Zambia Ministry of Health. He is Professor of Infectious Diseases and affiliated with the University of Zambia School of Medicine, Lusaka. He practices at the University Teaching Hospital. He serves on various international and local boards. His recent focus has been on improving health outcomes through 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 (kidney, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes); and infectious diseases epidemiology and clinical outcomes. He has authored several publications in peer-reviewed journals on these subjects. Michel C Nussenzweig Rockefeller University, United States View Michel C NussenzweigRockefeller University, United StatesMichel C Nussenzweig is the Zanvil A. Cohn and Ralph M. Steinman Professor, Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Senior Physician at The Rockefeller University. His laboratory studies the molecular mechanisms of adaptive and innate immunity, leading to innovative vaccines against infectious diseases and new therapies for autoimmune disorders.A Rockefeller alumnus, Michel earned his PhD with Ralph Steinman, defining how dendritic cells initiate and regulate immune responses. His later work uncovered key mechanisms of B cell development and tolerance, showing that most new B cells are self-reactive and identifying checkpoints that prevent autoimmunity. He is Editor and Chair of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Director of the Christopher H. Browne Center for Immunology and Co-Director of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Institute for Global Infectious Disease Research. His honours include the Robert Koch Prize and election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Paula Mendes Luz Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Brazil View Paula Mendes LuzFundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), BrazilPaula Mendes Luz is a researcher and Professor at Fiocruz’s Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas and Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca, advising Master’s and PhD students. She holds an MD from Fluminense Federal University (2002) and a PhD in epidemiology from Yale University (2009), funded by a Fulbright and CAPES Joint Scholarship. She has been awarded multiple Research Productivity Awards by the Brazilian National Research Council and the State of Rio de Janeiro Research Support Foundation. Her research interests include epidemiology, mathematical and statistical modelling of disease dynamics, health technology assessment and decision analysis. Her recent work integrates epidemiological and modelling approaches to analyse the influence of psychological, interpersonal and social determinants of health on HIV prevention, treatment and care continuum outcomes. Raphael Landovitz University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States View Raphael LandovitzUniversity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United StatesRaphael J Landovitz is a Professor of Medicine and the Mary D. Fisher Endowed Chair in HIV Care, Treatment, and Prevention at the David Geffen School of Medicine. He is Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and serves as Director of both the UCLA Center for Clinical AIDS Research & Education and the UCLA Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services. Raphael is also a principal investigator of the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) and the UCLA AIDS Prevention and Treatment Clinical Trials Unit. His research focuses on optimizing antiretroviral therapies for HIV treatment and prevention, with current efforts centred on the development and implementation of long-acting PrEP agents and continued evaluation of investigational long-acting and extended-release products and delivery systems for HIV and STI prevention. Sandhya Vasan U.S. Military HIV Research Program, United States View Sandhya VasanU.S. Military HIV Research Program, United StatesSandhya Vasan is Vice President of Global Infectious Diseases Research at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, leading this component of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program and Viral Diseases Program at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Sandhya studied mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed her MD at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard Medical School and a residency in paediatrics at Johns Hopkins University. Sandhya worked at the Communicable Disease Centre and National University of Singapore and conducted research on HIV vaccines, therapies and adjuvants at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and The Rockefeller University in New York. She leads an array of basic and clinical studies, oversees staff at clinical research sites in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and is the principal investigator on grant awards from the U.S. Department of Defense and NIH. Sanjay Pujari Institute of Infectious Diseases, India View Sanjay PujariInstitute of Infectious Diseases, IndiaSanjay Pujari is a physician specializing in internal medicine and infectious diseases and serves as Founder-Director at the Institute of Infectious Diseases in Pune, India. He began working in HIV care as a medical student, establishing early awareness and counselling initiatives. He currently provides care to more than 6,000 people living with HIV. His site is part of the TREAT Asia network and the TAHOD cohort, collaborating on research, education and policy initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. His research focuses on optimizing antiretroviral therapy, managing opportunistic infections, including tuberculosis, and evaluating effectiveness and safety of generic FDC ART. He has contributed to WHO consultations, served on the ICMR National Task Force on COVID-19, and is long-time faculty at the EACS HIV Summer School. He also conceived and produced U=Me, an award-winning short film promoting U=U and seeks to shift community attitudes to help mitigate stigma and discrimination. Wame Jallow MTV Staying Alive Foundation, Botswana View Wame JallowMTV Staying Alive Foundation, BotswanaWame Jallow is a global advocate for health, rights and environmental justice, with over 25 years of experience in driving transformative change across diverse communities. She has been a fierce champion for the rights of women and girls, working to ensure equitable access to quality health services and essential medicines for all. She has played a pivotal role in strengthening community and health systems, bringing expertise in community-led monitoring and research, costing and policy analysis, advocacy, social behaviour change and impact, and community mobilization. Wame is the Executive Director of the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, which leads innovative entertainment-education initiatives that harness the power of storytelling and popular culture to challenge stigma, shift social norms and inspire collective action globally. Its flagship series, MTV Shuga, is a cultural touchstone and movement tackling critical issues that shape the lives and futures of young people.
👏 This #InternationalWomensDay, we celebrate women driving progress in the #HIV response.
At #AIDS2026, women will be strongly represented among featured speakers – showcasing science, advancing equity & shaping global health.
#IWD2026 #WomensDay #RethinkRebuildRise
