Speaker: Prof Thumbi Ndung'u [Africa Health Project Institute]

Host: Dr Sabelo Hadebe [Div of Immunology, UCT/SAIS]

Prof Thumbi Ndung’u is the Director of Basic and Translational Science at AHRI in Durban. He is a Professor of Infectious Diseases at University College London and holds the SARChi in Systems Biology of HIV/AIDS and the Victor Daitz Chair
in HIV/TB Research at the HIV Pathogenesis Programme, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is also the Programme Director of the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE), a research and capacity-building initiative.

Prof Ndung'u is a recipient of the SAMRC Gold award for seminal scientific contributions that have impacted the health of people. He is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. He is also an Associate Member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard University.

Prof Ndung'u has co-authored more than 250 peer-reviewed publications. His research focuses on understanding how the immune system may be harnessed for HIV prophylactic or therapeutic strategies.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Nairobi, Kenya and a PhD in Biological Sciences in Public Health from Harvard University. He did postdoctoral research in Virology at Harvard Medical School.