Confronting Inequities in STI Prevention, Diagnostics and Care
International Scientific Committee
Jo-Anne Dillon
Chairperson, International Scientific Committee, Canada
Jo-Anne Dillon, the President-elect of the International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections, is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology and a Research Scientist at the Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Organization of the University of Saskatchewan. Prof Dillon obtained her PhD at Queen’s University (Canada) and has held leadership positions in science and administration throughout her career, including national and international science organizations. She is the recipient of many honours including recognition for her contributions to research both by the Canadian Society of Microbiologists and the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada. Prof Dillon is recognized for her research leadership in the antimicrobial resistance, biology (including cell division mechanisms) and molecular epidemiology of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. She co-founded the World Health Organization-sponsored International Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Program (GASP) and has promoted international health initiatives regarding STIs. Professor Dillon is the author of over 500 publications including peer-reviewed articles and abstracts and holds several patents. She has mentored students and trainees who now hold leadership positions in academia, industry and public institutions around the world.
Remco Peters
co-Chairperson, International Scientific Committee, South Africa
Remco Peters, MD, PhD, is an HIV/STI clinician, epidemiologist, and researcher based in East London, South Africa. He is Head of Research at the Foundation for Professional Development and appointed extraordinary professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Pretoria and honorary associate professor in the Division of Medical Microbiology at the University of Cape Town.
Prof Peters leads several clinical research studies on STI programme implementation, STI diagnostics and antimicrobial resistance. He is the site-PI responsible for clinical trials of novel HIV prevention options at the rural FPD-DTHF Ndevana Community Research Site. He is member of the South African STI technical working group, chair of the STI guidelines committee for the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society and assistant secretary of the International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections.
Prof Peters leads several clinical research studies on STI programme implementation, STI diagnostics and antimicrobial resistance. He is the site-PI responsible for clinical trials of novel HIV prevention options at the rural FPD-DTHF Ndevana Community Research Site. He is member of the South African STI technical working group, chair of the STI guidelines committee for the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society and assistant secretary of the International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections.
Laith Abu-Raddad
Chairperson Track 3: Epidemiology & Surveillance, Qatar
Laith Abu-Raddad is a Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar, Cornell University. He is also the director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Disease Epidemiology Analytics on HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Viral Hepatitis. Previously he held academic and research positions at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington, Imperial College London and Osaka University. His research interests are multidisciplinary with emphasis on studying the epidemiology of infectious diseases using analytical and computational approaches in addition to conventional epidemiologic study designs. He has led several high-impact studies at the international and regional levels. His scientific research has been published in journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, Science, JAMA, Nature Medicine, Lancet, PLOS Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Hepatology, and Clinical Infectious Diseases. He has worked on COVID-19, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis C virus, tuberculosis, and SARS. He is or has been the principal investigator of several projects funded by various funding agencies, and has acted as an expert advisor or a consultant for several international organizations. His research work has been key in the formulation of public health policy at the regional and international levels.
Tania Crucitti
Chairperson Track 1: Basic and Laboratory Science, Madagascar
I am a clinical biologist and infectious disease researcher with work experience in clinical trials, laboratory diagnostics and biomedical research. The focus of my research is prevention, diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. I collaborate in clinical trials focused on HIV and STI prevention, conduct evaluations of novel diagnostic assays for STIs, and perform research on STI pathogens, on the genital microbiome, and on inter- and intra-microbial and host-microbial interaction. I worked as technical expert for the European Commission in Mozambique where I was assigned to the laboratory department of the Mozambican National Control Program for AIDS and STIs. Prior to joining the Institut Pasteur network in 2018, I served as head of the STI reference laboratory at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. I initiated research in bacteriology focused on Treponema pallidum and Haemophilus ducreyi at the Centre Pasteur du Cameroun. Currently, I’m based at the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, heading the unit of experimental bacteriology and setting up research on STIs. I enjoy and acknowledge the importance of multidisciplinary team work, and cherish to interact with colleagues all over the world.
Sinead Delany-Moretlwe
Chairperson Track 2: Prevention and Behavioural Science, South Africa
Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, MBBCh PhD DTM&H is a Research Professor and Director: Research, Wits RHI at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Her research interests span the intersections between sexual and reproductive health and infectious diseases, particularly among adolescent girls and young women. She has worked on several phase III trials of new HIV prevention technologies, including oral, topical and most recently long-acting injectable PrEP. She is also principal investigator on a population impact evaluation of the HPV vaccination programme in South Africa. She has served on the South African National Department of Health PrEP technical working group, and several WHO advisory committees, including PDVAC.
Carmen Logie
Chairperson Track 5: Community Engagement & Policy, Canada
Dr. Carmen Logie is an Associate Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto and the Canada Research Chair in Global Health Equity and Social Justice with Marginalized Populations. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment & Health, Research Scientist at the Centre for Gender & Sexual Health Equity, and Adjunct Scientist at Women’s College Hospital. Logie’s research program advances understanding of, and develops interventions to address, intersectional stigma and other social-ecological factors associated with HIV and STI prevention and care. She has advanced stigma and health disparities research with >195 peer-reviewed publications. Her current community-based research focuses on HIV prevention and care cascades in Canada, Uganda, and Jamaica with people living with HIV, refugee and displaced youth, LGBTQ communities, sex workers, Indigenous youth, and persons at the intersection of these identities. She is a Deputy Editor at the Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS) and on editorial boards for Social Science & Medicine Mental Health and PLOS Global Health. Her 2021 book, Working with Excluded Populations in HIV: Hard to Reach or Out of Sight?, was released as part of the Social Aspects of HIV book series.
Philippe Mayaud
Chairperson Track 4: Clinical & Implementation Science - UK
Dr Philippe Mayaud is a Professor of Infectious Diseases & Reproductive Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (Faculty of Infectious & Tropical Diseases). A clinician by background turned epidemiologist, his research and teaching have focused on epidemiological, clinical and implementation aspects of HIV and STI control, in particular of viral infections such as herpes, HPV and cervical cancer, HHV-8, but also syphilis and gonorrhoea. He has predominantly worked in sub-Saharan Africa (notably Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Ghana and Burkina Faso) and Brazil. He holds an Honorary appointment at the University of Witwatersrand (South Africa) and was recipient of a Visiting Professorship at the University Sao Paulo, Brazil. He has been a long standing advisor to WHO STI/HIV and Reproductive Health departments and is a current member of the Advisory Group of WHO HIV, Hepatitis, and STIs.