Organization: Desmond Tutu HIV Centre Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, UCT Faculty of Health Sciences
Country: South Africa
Linda-Gail Bekker is the Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, and Chief Executive Officer of the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation. She is a physician-scientist and infectious disease specialist. Her research interests include programmatic and action research around antiretroviral roll out, tuberculosis integration and prevention of HIV in women, young people and men who have sex with men.
Linda-Gail has also recently been involved in COVID-19 vaccine trials and co-leads the Sisonke Phase 3B study, which has seen the vaccination of 500,000 healthcare workers in South Africa. She has led numerous investigator-driven studies on HIV treatment, prevention and tuberculosis. She is a Past President of the International AIDS Society and served as the International Co-Chair of IAS 2017, the 9th IAS Conference on HIV Science, and AIDS 2018, the 22nd International AIDS Conference. She was Co-Chair of HIVR4P 2020 // Virtual, the 4th HIV Research for Prevention Conference, held in January 2021.