HIV cure without borders: Science, community and Latin America and Caribbean perspectives - Opening and setting the scene

Sharon Lewin is the inaugural director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, a joint venture between the University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital; Melbourne Laureate Professor of Medicine, University of Melbourne; and the inaugural director of the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics, Melbourne, Australia.

She is an infectious diseases physician and virologist. She completed her medical degree and PhD in virology at Monash University in 1996 and her post-doctoral fellowship with Dr David Ho at Rockefeller University in 1999. She is recognised globally for her research aimed at finding a cure for HIV. 

In 2014 she was named Melburnian of the Year and in 2019 was awarded Officer of the Order of Australia for services to infectious diseases and HIV/AIDS. She is the immediate past President of the International AIDS Society and co-chairs the IAS Initiative Towards a Cure. She holds honorary doctorates from Latrobe University, Monash University, Aarhus University in Denmark and University of Bonn in Germany.

Christian Gaebler is a Professor at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, where he directs the Berlin Center for HIV Cure (BeCURE) and leads the Laboratory for Translational Immunology of Viral Infections. He co-leads the Personalized Infectious Medicine programme at the Berlin Institute of Health. Previously he served as an Assistant Professor at Rockefeller University in New York. As a physician-scientist, his research ranges from basic immunology of viral infections to the clinical development of antibody immunotherapies for infectious diseases, with a focus on HIV. His awards include the 2021 Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Award, the 2023 German AIDS Award from the German AIDS Society and the 2025 HIV/AIDS Research Prize from the German Society for Infectious Diseases (DGI). He was named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Pisci Bruja is an anthropologist, researcher, community educator, and PhD candidate in Collective Health at the Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo (FMUSP), Brazil.
Her work brings together research, education, activism, and care, developing community-based approaches that promote health equity, human rights, and diversity. As a member of the Brazilian National Network of People Living with HIV (RNP+ SP), she has built her career by connecting scientific knowledge, community engagement, and policy advocacy.
Throughout her career, she has contributed to clinical research on HIV prevention and cure and collaborated in the development of Brazil's National Priority Agenda for Addressing STIs among Women in Situations of Vulnerability, coordinated by the Ministry of Health. Between 2023 and 2026, she was part of the team responsible for developing the Comprehensive Care Pathway for Transgender People Living with HIV at the Instituto de Infectologia Emílio Ribas.
She currently works as a Community Educator at the Casa da Pesquisa do CRT-DST/AIDS, in São Paulo, where she leads community mobilization, health education, and clinical research support activities in HIV. She also serves as Managing Editor of the international journal Global Public Health.

Dr. Trautmann is Director of Translational Research at the Henry M Jackson Foundation in support of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) and the Global Infectious Diseases Portfolio.  Prior to her role at HJF, she performed research for two decades in translational human immunology at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute in Florida, MHRP and at the Oregon Health and Science University. She has established a strong research agenda with high ranked publications, a large collaborative network and a vigorous funding portfolio. In her present role, she oversees the current and upcoming MHRP HIV cure cohort and clinical trials and leads the global MHRP cure trial network called DELIVER.  She also serves on several national and international review committees and co-leads the International NeuroHIV Cure Consortium.

Sharon Lewin is the inaugural director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, a joint venture between the University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital; Melbourne Laureate Professor of Medicine, University of Melbourne; and the inaugural director of the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics, Melbourne, Australia.

She is an infectious diseases physician and virologist. She completed her medical degree and PhD in virology at Monash University in 1996 and her post-doctoral fellowship with Dr David Ho at Rockefeller University in 1999. She is recognised globally for her research aimed at finding a cure for HIV. 

In 2014 she was named Melburnian of the Year and in 2019 was awarded Officer of the Order of Australia for services to infectious diseases and HIV/AIDS. She is the immediate past President of the International AIDS Society and co-chairs the IAS Initiative Towards a Cure. She holds honorary doctorates from Latrobe University, Monash University, Aarhus University in Denmark and University of Bonn in Germany.

Christian Gaebler is a Professor at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, where he directs the Berlin Center for HIV Cure (BeCURE) and leads the Laboratory for Translational Immunology of Viral Infections. He co-leads the Personalized Infectious Medicine programme at the Berlin Institute of Health. Previously he served as an Assistant Professor at Rockefeller University in New York. As a physician-scientist, his research ranges from basic immunology of viral infections to the clinical development of antibody immunotherapies for infectious diseases, with a focus on HIV. His awards include the 2021 Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Award, the 2023 German AIDS Award from the German AIDS Society and the 2025 HIV/AIDS Research Prize from the German Society for Infectious Diseases (DGI). He was named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Pisci Bruja is an anthropologist, researcher, community educator, and PhD candidate in Collective Health at the Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo (FMUSP), Brazil.
Her work brings together research, education, activism, and care, developing community-based approaches that promote health equity, human rights, and diversity. As a member of the Brazilian National Network of People Living with HIV (RNP+ SP), she has built her career by connecting scientific knowledge, community engagement, and policy advocacy.
Throughout her career, she has contributed to clinical research on HIV prevention and cure and collaborated in the development of Brazil's National Priority Agenda for Addressing STIs among Women in Situations of Vulnerability, coordinated by the Ministry of Health. Between 2023 and 2026, she was part of the team responsible for developing the Comprehensive Care Pathway for Transgender People Living with HIV at the Instituto de Infectologia Emílio Ribas.
She currently works as a Community Educator at the Casa da Pesquisa do CRT-DST/AIDS, in São Paulo, where she leads community mobilization, health education, and clinical research support activities in HIV. She also serves as Managing Editor of the international journal Global Public Health.

Dr. Trautmann is Director of Translational Research at the Henry M Jackson Foundation in support of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) and the Global Infectious Diseases Portfolio.  Prior to her role at HJF, she performed research for two decades in translational human immunology at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute in Florida, MHRP and at the Oregon Health and Science University. She has established a strong research agenda with high ranked publications, a large collaborative network and a vigorous funding portfolio. In her present role, she oversees the current and upcoming MHRP HIV cure cohort and clinical trials and leads the global MHRP cure trial network called DELIVER.  She also serves on several national and international review committees and co-leads the International NeuroHIV Cure Consortium.