Beyond the hype: What AI really means for the HIV response

Kenneth Ngure is an Associate Professor of Global Health and immediate former Dean of the School of Public Health of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya. He is an Affiliate Associate Professor of the Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Visiting Scientist at Kenyatta National Hospital and, recently, a visiting Professor at the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health. He is also a member of the Expert Committee on Clinical Trials of the Kenyan Pharmacy and Poisons Board.

Kenneth is a member of the Behavioral Research Group of the Microbicides Trials Network (MTN), the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network (IMPAACT), the Socio-Behavioral and Structural Working Group of the HIV Prevent Trials Network (HPTN), and Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination (HANC) Cross-Network Behavioral Science Consultative Group (BSCG). He is Pillar 1 co-lead for Microbicide R&D to Advance HIV Prevention Technologies through Responsive Innovation and eXcellence (MATRIX). These groups are directed towards the development of new biomedical strategies to prevent HIV.

Kenneth is an HIV prevention expert, having been a site investigator in the landmark Partners PrEP trial, which was followed by the Partners (PrEP) Demonstration Project and, more recently, the Partners Scale-UP Project. He is also a member of the PrEP Technical Working Group of the Ministry of Health, Kenya. Recently, Kenneth co-chaired a protocol (MTN-034) to evaluate the safety of and adherence to a vaginal matrix ring containing dapivirine and oral emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate in an African adolescent female population. He is co-lead on a randomized trial that tests how HIV self-testing might support PrEP delivery among men and women in Kenya (R01MH113572) and is currently leading the behavioural component of several other multinational studies that are looking into simplifying PrEP delivery.

Kenneth has over 25 years of public health leadership experience gained in diverse HIV and AIDS research settings in central, eastern, southern and western Africa. This includes working as a Program Director for the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA – Kenyan Chapter) and consulting for organizations that include the World Health Organization. He was recently re-elected to represent Africa on the Governing Council of the IAS, where he also sits on the Executive Board. Kenneth has authored or co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed conference abstracts and 160 peer-reviewed manuscripts.

Dr. Jirair Ratevosian is Senior Scholar at the Duke Global Health Institute, an Affiliated Researcher with the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA) at Yale University, and a Non-Resident Global Health Policy Expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He works at the intersection of global health and innovation, advancing strategies that deliver life-saving impact across borders and systems. His health policy work focuses on strengthening public health systems, advancing equitable access to innovation, and informing smarter, more effective investments.

Sarah Morris is Chief Product Officer at Audere, a global digital health nonprofit advancing health equity through AI. With two decades of experience at Microsoft, Meta, and Expedia, she's spent her career democratizing access to technology – and now applies that same commitment to global health. At Audere, she leads the multimodal AI platform behind Self-Care from Anywhere, delivering SRH, HIV, and mental health support via WhatsApp across Africa.

Dr Laura Rossouw is a development and health economist, and a senior quantitative researcher at Indlela. Laura’s research interests include demand-side and behavioural factors related to health outcomes and health-seeking behaviour, specifically those related to maternal, sexual, and reproductive health; gender economics focusing on the economic empowerment of women and girls; and adolescent health and well-being. She has also worked extensively on the use of fiscal policies to improve health outcomes, specifically those targeting alcohol and tobacco use, and more recently the use of fiscal policies to improve access to menstrual hygiene management. She has worked for several South African academic institutions over the past 15 years and often consults for international organisations including the World Health Organization and the World Bank.

Accomplished communication and governance specialist with extensive experience designing and implementing institutional development initiatives. With a BA in Journalism from the University of Johannesburg and Honors degrees in Industrial Sociology and Public Management and Governance – complemented by ongoing Master's-level study in Governance.
Professional journey has focused on embedding research into health service delivery, training programmes that strengthen the skills and governance for health communicators and policy makers at different levels.
Possesses deep understanding of the government and community health stakeholder ecosystem, skilled at tailoring strategic messaging to diverse audiences. My work emphasized participatory governance, fostering more inclusive health communication environments.

Dr. Mike Reid serves as the Chief Science Officer in the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy (GHSD) at the U.S. Department of State, where he leads scientific strategy and provides technical oversight for all programming under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
He is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he practices as an Infectious Diseases physician and serves as Associate Director of the Center for Global Health Diplomacy, Delivery, and Economics.
For over 15 years, Dr. Reid has led academic global health initiatives focused on HIV and tuberculosis (TB) policy, implementation science, and health systems strengthening, with a primary focus on sub-Saharan Africa. He has authored more than 130 peer-reviewed publications and was lead commissioner for the Lancet Commission on Tuberculosis. He currently serves as chair of the Lancet Global Health Commission on HIV and AI.
Dr. Reid completed his medical training at Cambridge University, followed by residency training in London, England, and New York, USA. He holds an MPH from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed his Infectious Diseases fellowship at UCSF.