SA professor appointed co-principal investigator in landmark HIV prevention network
- Wits University
Sinéad Delany-Moretlwe is Professor of Global Health and Infectious Diseases and Research Director at Wits RHI.
Sinéad Delany-Moretlwe has been selected as a co-principal investigator for the groundbreaking HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN).
HPTN is a collaborative clinical trials network with 67 sites in North and South America, Africa and South East Asia. It develops and tests the safety and efficacy of interventions designed o prevent the acquisition and transmission of HIV.
Several HTPN-led trials have been transformative for the HIV field. The HPTN 052 trial demonstrated that treating individuals for HIV reduced transmission to their partners. This in turn led to game changing policies such as Undetectable = Untransmissable (U=U).
More recently, the network demonstrated the potential of cabotegravir, a long-acting injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV, which led to the drug’s approval by several regulatory authorities across the globe, including South Africa.
Delany-Moretlwe’s research interests span the intersections between sexual and reproductive health and infectious diseases, particularly in adolescent girls and young women (AGYW).
Recent achievements include leading the landmark HPTN cabotegravir trial, as well as several implementation studies to optimize oral PrEP use in AGYW in Eastern and Southern Africa.
Wits RHI Executive Director, Professor Helen Rees, says: "The HPTN is a hugely respected international research network. Sinéad has been elected to the position of HPTN co-chair because of her international reputation as an outstanding scientist.”