Key messages from IAS 2025

Kenneth Ngure is an Associate Professor of Global Health and 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.

Susan Shumba is a Key Populations Officer at Population Solutions for Health (PSH) in the Masvingo province of Zimbabwe and a dialogue partner at the Global Interfaith Network for people of all Sexes, Sexual Orientations, Gender Identities and Expressions (SOGIE).
Susan has an Honours in social anthropology from the Great Zimbabwe University in Zimbabwe and is currently studying for a Master of Science in Public Health at the University of Suffolk, England. She was trained in HIV care and treatment, HIV prevention, HIV integrated services and care for key populations through the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA 2015, Zimbabwe), AIDS 2016 in Durban, AIDS 2018 in Amsterdam, and IAS 2017 in Paris. She holds a certificate of participation and presentation on breaking barriers that promote arranged marriages among lesbian, bisexual and queer women of faith. Susan was also an IAS Youth Ambassador from 2017 to 2019. She has been an IAS Member since 2016. She is an active member of the Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+) and serves as a trainer and facilitator on HIV prevention and treatment in several African countries.
At a local level, she is a member of the Zimbabwe Young Positives (ZY+), where she supports and promotes health of adolescent girls and young women living with HIV through mentorship and linkage to comprehensive HIV services. At PSH, she mobilizes key and vulnerable populations to integrated HIV services that include antiretroviral therapy, pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis, psychosocial support and TB treatment. Her involvement in advocacy includes lobbying for the rights of key and vulnerable populations at national and international levels. She is also a founder of the Young Advocates for Inclusion Network where she advocates for the inclusion of young women, vulnerable populations and people in rural areas in all HIV interventions.
Susan believes that the IAS has a distinctive opportunity to support implementation of unique and creative initiatives that integrate prevention and treatment of HIV. Moreover, its independence and multi-professional structure make the IAS exclusively positioned to nurture collaborations between national and international initiatives. She also believes that it is of utmost importance to promote programmes aimed at creating the necessary conditions to attract creative young people in scientific research and activism to dedicate their expertise to the progress, testing and implementation of new behavioural and biomedical interventions to curb HIV and AIDS.
As a member of the Governing Council, Susan is committed to guaranteeing that the IAS achieves the goals that are fundamental to its mission to lead collective action on every front of the global HIV response through its membership base, scientific authority and convening power. As a team player on the IAS Governing Council, she promotes advancement of integration between prevention and treatment, closer collaboration among stakeholders, and advancement of the career development of young investigators and activists.

Born in Switzerland to a Romanian father and a Swiss mother, Alexandra Calmy completed her medical education in Geneva, obtaining her diploma in 1994. She trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases, and in 2009, earned a PhD in clinical research in Sydney, Australia. Appointed Associate Professor in 2014 and Full Professor in 2021, she currently leads the HIV/AIDS Unit (Division of Infectious Diseases) at the University Hospitals of Geneva. Additionally, she holds a leadership role at the Center for Clinical Research at the same institution.

Alexandra’s research is centred on public health and humanitarian responses to HIV and AIDS, focusing particularly on antiretroviral therapy and managing side effects in resource-limited settings. She has collaborated with Médecins Sans Frontières since 1996, supporting its HIV and AIDS initiatives for over a decade as a scientific advisor and member of the MSF access campaign, including the establishment of the first antiretroviral access programme.

Since 2001, Alexandra has been involved with World Health Organization working groups in developing and implementing guidelines for HIV treatment in low- and middle-income countries. Committed to mentoring the next generation of clinicians in meaningful research, she co-leads the CSS13 committee at the “Agence National de Recherche sur le SIDA – maladies émergentes” (ANRS-MIE) and actively participates in the scientific board of the Swiss HIV Study Cohort.

In 2020, she joined the COVID-19 response in Switzerland, co-chairing the clinical group of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force. More recently, she has been involved in coordinating care and treatment for people with mpox.

Gastón Devisich is the Community Engagement Representative at Fundación Huésped’s Research Department. He has been living with HIV for 12 years and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. He has served as the Latin American and the Caribbean Representative at the NGO Delegation for UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board and is a founding member of LAC-Cura, the Latin America and Caribbean HIV Cure Consortium, and the 2024 recipient of the Omololu Falobi Award for Excellence in HIV Prevention Research Community Advocacy.

Doreen Moraa Moracha is a passionate HIV advocate and digital content creator from Kenya, living positively with HIV for 32 years now. With a combined social media reach of over 700,000 followers, she leverages storytelling and digital platforms to promote stigma reduction, health literacy, and youth engagement. Doreen has partnered with global organizations to ensure meaningful community involvement in the HIV response and is widely recognized as a bold and authentic voice shaping the narrative around living with HIV.

She proudly calls herself “A Beautiful Story” using her journey to inspire, educate, and advocate for young people and key populations worldwide.