Tuesday 4 November 2025, 15.30 GMT
1 Birdcage Walk, London
Lessons from Africa: health diplomacy in HIV prevention
The Academy of Medical Sciences & The Lancet International Health Lecture 2025, 'Lessons from Africa: health diplomacy in HIV prevention', will be delivered by Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim FRS, Associate Scientific Director at the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA).
The event will be held in person at One Birdcage Walk, London and online on Tuesday 4 November, 15.30 - 17.30 GMT (with a reception to follow for in-person attendees).
The lecture is free and open to all. The registration deadline is Monday 3 November.
View full panel biographies below.
Lecture content
The role of medical science in policymaking and public engagement is more critical now than ever. Complex challenges such as reduced funding, misinformation and a lack of public influence need to be overcome through strong partnerships and resilient scientific institutions that unite rather than divide.
In this lecture, Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim FRS will share lessons from the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), which has had exceptional success in fighting HIV/AIDS, TB and Covid-19.
Professor Karim will explore:
- How we can combine scientific rigour with innovation to solve global health challenges
- Why working closely with communities on a local, national and global level is crucial for generating knowledge and translating evidence into health policy and practice
- How diverse funding, strategic focus, a supportive research culture and shared values can help us build resilience in the face of adversity
Professor Karim's biography
Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim FRS is a South African infectious diseases epidemiologist, and the co-founder and Associate Scientific Director at the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA).
She is a Professor in Clinical Epidemiology at Columbia University and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health Sciences) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Professor Karim is also President of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and UN Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV.
Her research has shaped the global HIV prevention landscape, notably in HIV epidemiology and prevention technologies for women. She has made vital contributions to understanding HIV-TB co-infection and the impact of COVID-19 on people living with HIV in Africa and globally.
View Professor Karim's full biography below.
Lecture panel
Professor Karim will be joined by a global expert panel:
- Dr Anders Nordström (in person), Advisor, Stockholm School of Economics. Dr Nordström will speak about diplomacy in practice.
- Dr Mohammad Hosseini (online), Assistant Professor, Northwestern University. Dr Hosseini will discuss trust in science.
- Dr Peggy Oti-Boateng (online), Executive Director, The African Academy of Sciences. Dr Oti-Boateng will talk about capacity building and equitable partnerships.
The event will be chaired by Professor Tom Solomon CBE FMedSci, Vice President (International) of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and Professor Richard Horton OBE FMedSci, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet.
A reception will follow at 17.30 for in-person attendees, with opportunities for networking with speakers and high-profile guests.
For further information, please email [email protected]
Full biographies
Speakers
Chairs
Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim FRS
Professor Karim is a South African infectious diseases epidemiologist, Associate Scientific Director at the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), John C Martin Chair in Global Health, Professor in Clinical Epidemiology, Columbia University and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health Sciences), University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. She is a National Research Foundation A rated scientist since 2014.
Her seminal research contributions spanning nearly four decades have shaped the global HIV prevention landscape, notably in HIV epidemiology, prevention technologies for women; TB-HIV treatment and Covid-19. Her research demonstrated that ARVs prevent sexually transmitted HIV that laid the foundation for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP); and developing sustainable strategies to introduce ART and new HIV prevention technologies in resource constrained settings and she has provided insights in Africa and globally on the impact of Covid-19 on HIV and in the evaluation of Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
Through the Columbia University–Southern African Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Programme (CU-SA Fogarty AITRP) she played a key role in building the science base in southern Africa to enhance responses to HIV and Tuberculosis through training over 600 scientists. She has in addition, successfully mentored 26 Master’s students, 40 pre-doctoral students, 14 Doctoral students, and 19 post-doctoral students. Several of her mentees hold senior leadership positions at universities, medical centres, governmental agencies, multi-lateral organizations, and research institutes
She is currently President of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the first woman to lead this organisation, that focuses on the advancement of science in developing countries and since 2017, she is the UN Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV. She plays a leading role in global policy development through several Advisory Committees including the GHIT Board; chair of the PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board and the UN IDSSD Advisory Committee. She is a Fellow of The Royal Society, International Science Council, TWAS, CBAS, the African Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, the Royal Society of South Africa, and the African Academy of Science. She is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
She has delivered over 50 invited keynote addresses and major conferences and has over 300 peer-reviewed journal publications, with more than half cited over 100 times. She is an editor of several books including the 6th and 7th editions of the Oxford Textbook on Global Public Health, which is widely used to teach public health. She is the co-editor of the book “HIV/AIDS in South Africa” (Cambridge University Press), which is widely used as a reference text and a book on HIV Clinical Trials (Springer). She is on the Editorial Board of AIDS, Clinical Trials, the South African Medical Journal and Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa.
Her research contributions have been recognized by several awards including the Order of Mapungubwe from the President of South Africa. She is a L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Laureate, the Christophe Mérieux Infectious Diseases Award from the French Academy of Sciences, the Canada John Dirks-Gairdner Award for Global Health, the Lasker Bloomberg Public service Award, the inaugural Special VinFuture Prize for developing country innovators and the apex TWAS-Lenovo Prize, the African Academy of Science’s highest award – the Olusegun Obasanjo Prize and the highest science award of the African Union – the Kwame Nkrumah Prize. In South Africa, she has received the Royal Society’s Bernard Herschel Gold Medal, the South African Department of Science and Technology’s Distinguished Woman in Science Award, the ASSAf Science for Society Gold Medal, and the Medical Research Council’s Platinum Award.
Dr Peggy Oti-Boateng
Dr Oti-Boateng is the former Executive Director at the African Academy of Sciences. In this role, she provided leadership and strategic direction to enable the Academy to achieve its vision, mission, and objectives. She oversaw both the programmatic and operational management of the organization with a focus to sustainably drive the mandate of the AAS through the secretariat team, working under the guidance of the Governing Council of the Academy.
Previously Dr. Oti-Boateng was Senior Science Advisor for Natural Sciences and the Director of the Division of Science Policy and Capacity Building in the Natural Sciences Sector at UNESCO Paris (France). She has been responsible for projects and programmes relating to science policy and capacity building in basic sciences and engineering at the multisectoral UNESCO regional office in Harare (Zimbabwe). She was also regional thematic adviser for Africa for the formulation of policies and capacity building in science, technology, and innovation and engineering. She served as focal point for the African Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology and was the Head of Science in the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Dr Mohammad Hosseini
Dr Hosseini is an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Preventive Medicine in Chicago. His research interests include ethical implications of using AI in research and publications, research ethics and integrity, open science and trust in science. He is involved in and leads various projects in national and international organizations such as National Information Standards Organization, National Academy of Sciences, and Global Young Academy. Furthermore, he is the associate editor of the journal of Accountability in Research and the book series editor of Research Ethics Forum.
Dr Anders Nordström
Dr Anders Nordström is the former Swedish Ambassador for Global Health (2010-23). He is a medical doctor and completed his studies at the Karolinska Institute. Today he is an advisor affiliated with the Karolinska Institute and the Stockholm School of Economics.
He is currently a member of the board of the Alliance for Health Systems Research’s, is a member of the NUS-Lancet PRIME Commission, chairs the International Vaccine Institute Global Advisory Group of Experts, and serves on the Virchow Foundation for Global Health Council. Recently he led the Secretariat for The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (2020-21) and remains an active contributor to the Panel’s work.
At the World Health Organization, he served as Acting Director-General (May 2006 – January 2007) and as Assistant Director General for General Management (2003-2006), and Assistant Director General for Health Systems and Services (2007). He was Head of the WHO Country Office in Sierra Leone (2015-17).
As the Interim Executive Director, he established the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as a legal entity in 2002. He has previously served as board member of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the GAVI Alliance, UNAIDS and the Partnership for Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health and chaired a number of international working groups and processes.
He was the Director-General for the Swedish International Agency for Development Cooperation (2007-2010).
Professor Tom Solomon CBE FMedSci
Professor Solomon CBE FMedSci is Director of The Pandemic Institute, Vice President (International) of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, Academic Vice President of the Royal College of Physicians of London, Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, and Chair of Neurological Science at the University of Liverpool and the Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust. After qualifying in Medicine at Oxford, his research training included 3 years at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam, and 2 at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, USA. He works on emerging pathogens, particularly those that affect the brain, heading the multi-disciplinary Liverpool Brain Infections Group. His group works to reduce the UK and global burden of emerging neurological infections in adults and children, with major programmes on herpes viruses, arthropod-borne viruses and Covid-19. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in The Queen’s birthday honours List 2021.
Tom is a keen teacher, leading the annual Liverpool Neurological Infectious Diseases course, and an enthusiastic science communicator; his popular science book Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Medicine was published in 2016, and followed by a sell-out show of the same name at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2017. His 2022 show, Covid for Kids, received 5-star reviews including coverage in The Times, Time Out, The Scotsman, and The Daily Mail. He won a Guinness World Record in 2010 for the fastest marathon dressed as a doctor, and another in 2014 for his Sci-Art project The World’s Biggest Brain. He hosts the Scouse Science Podcast, and tweets @RunningMadProf.
Professor Richard Horton OBE FMedSci
Professor Horton OBE FMedSci is Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet. He qualified in physiology and medicine with honours from the University of Birmingham in 1986. He joined The Lancet in 1990, moving to New York as North American Editor in 1993. In 2016, he chaired the Expert Group for the High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth, convened by Presidents Hollande of France and Zuma of South Africa. From 2011 to 2015, he was co-chair of the UN's independent Expert Review Group on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health. In 2011, he was elected a Foreign Associate of the US Institute of Medicine and, in 2015, he received the Friendship Award from the Government of China. In 2019, he was awarded the WHO Director-General’s Health Leaders Award for outstanding leadership in global health and the Roux Prize in recognition of innovation in the application of global health evidence. In 2021, he received the Physicians for Human Rights Award in recognition of extraordinary leadership in advancing health and human rights. He now works to develop the idea of planetary health – the health of human civilizations and the ecosystems on which they depend. In 2020, he published The COVID-19 Catastrophe: What’s Gone Wrong and How to Stop It Happening Again. A revised, updated, and expanded second edition was published in 2021. As part of the UK’s 2023 Honours, Dr Horton was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition for services to Health and Medical Journalism.