Learning outcomes

• Brief context - The HIV story in Rakai and the role of phylogenetics in deciphering early spread in Central and East Africa
• Dating HIV reservoir establishment and therapeutic implications in different populations
• Menopause in African women and its potential role in reservoir persistence
• Bringing the frontiers of HIV cure research to where the story started

Speaker bio

Dr. Edward Kankaka is a clinician and early career investigator from Rakai, Uganda. Rakai was the epicenter of the early HIV epidemic in Uganda and East Africa. Having lost close family to HIV and cared for many PLHIV, Dr. Kankaka is passionate about extending the frontiers of cure research on HIV, and other persistent pathogens, to Africa. Dr. Kankaka received graduate training in epidemiology and biostatistics (MPH), and postdoctoral training from the Johns Hopkins University. He was also mentored in bioinformatics by Drs. Art Poon and Jessica Prodger at Western University, with applications to cure-related research in the Rakai cohort.