Highlights of an Inaugural Memorial Lecture for the Late Prof James Gita Hakim at ICASA 2023, VIP Lounge at the Rainbow Towers in Harare Zimbabwe on 4th of Dec 2023.
In summary, Prof ZM Chirenje shared that the late Prof. James Hakim was an outstanding African researcher who dedicated his life to clinical & scientific research; a transformative leader and mentor who led with humility and vision. Across the world his mentorship legacy will ensure that future African health professionals lead successful health programs.
Dr Wadzanai Samaneka – dedicated her talk, Control of HIV through Treatment in appreciation of a teacher, mentor, leader, a true gentleman who dedicated his life to scientific research and mentoring of future generation of researchers and physicians. Prof Hakim worked closely with Dr Andrew Reid on the groundbreaking DART study, and other high impact research work on HIV therapy, HIV prevention, tuberculosis, cryptococcal disease and Kaposi Sarcoma in collaboration with Prof Margaret Borok for >20years.
Dr Agnes Mahomva, Public Health Advisor to the President and Cabinet of Zimbabwe – spoke on the Impact of James Hakim’s evidence-based research on policy and control of HIV epidemic in Zimbabwe and beyond, as well as and implementation strategies. The Late Prof JG Hakim’s mentorship and team support prioritized science driven program implementation approaches at all levels. In 2016 Prof Hakim presented the HPTN 052 clinical trial findings (hot from the press) to the EGPAF Global Leadership Team (The GLT) annual strategic meeting held in Zimbabwe.
Dr N Mgodi’s keynote address focused on Control of HIV Disease through Prevention . Prof Hakim was instrumental in Biomedical HIV prevention which utilizes two main approaches:
- Treatment as Prevention or TasP
- Pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP
An example being HPTN 052, a landmark proof-of-concept study which demonstrated that early antiretroviral therapy (ART) can prevent the sexual transmission of HIV-1 in HIV-1 sero-discordant couples. In conclusion Dr Mgodi quoted,
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