PhD Fellow Seth Inzaule appointed to prestigious function at WHO

Today, on World AIDS Day, AIGHD and the Joep Lange Institute (JLI) are delighted to hear the news that PhD Fellow Seth Inzaule has been appointed as Consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) to support the WHO HIVResNet team on HIV drug resistance surveillance, monitoring and evaluation. Seth will function at the Department of HIV/AIDS under the supervision of Dr Gottfried Hirnschall. The position will help implement, monitor and evaluate the WHO Global Action Plan (GAP) on HIV drug resistance. This will include providing technical support to countries for the implementation of surveys, monitoring activities related to the GAP and generating periodic reports on HIVDR GAP activities.

Seth is currently a PhD fellow at AIGHD under the TransGlobal Health Program, which is a part of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate Program and focuses on health threats to vulnerable populations that often face complex, interwoven problems such as poverty, inequity and co-morbidity. This program enables PhD students to obtain a double degree, from two different partner institutes in two different European countries: for Seth the two institutions are the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam (AMC) and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) in Spain. Seth is conducting his research on HIV drug resistance at AIGHD with promotor Prof. Tobias Rinke de Wit and co-promotor, Dr. Raph Hamers. Seth recently qualified as the recipient of a JLI support grant.

Seth’s work is progressing at lightning speed. Over the past three years, he has published and is currently working on 12 peer-reviewed papers on HIV drug resistance in Africa. More recently, Seth coordinated a nationwide survey in Nigeria on pediatric HIV drug resistance, which revealed ominous results for this highly populated African country.

“I am really excited about this opportunity and I’m so grateful to God. I am also very thankful to my promotor Prof. Tobias Rinke de Wit and co-promotor Dr. Raph L. Hamers who have been instrumental to my development and have mentored me in this field. I look forward to continuing this noble work of seeking to improve long-term antiretroviral treatment outcomes in low- and middle-income countries by specifically addressing the emerging problem of HIV drug resistance,” said Seth.

Seth is expected to begin his post in mid-January 2018.