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Scientific Advisory Board

International Expertise

In 2003, the Academic Alliance (AA) created an International Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) chaired by Dr. Paul Volberding to give direction to training, research, and clinical programs in Africa. This panel of world-renowned scientists from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Africa, provide expert guidance and critical international perspectives on Accordia Global Health Foundation’s current and future initiatives.

David Bangsberg, MD

David Bangsberg, MD, MPH is Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Global Health, Director of International Programs at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, and Director of the International Program of the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research with appointments in the Harvard School of Medicine and Mbarara University of Science and Technology. He completed medical school at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, his internal medicine and chief residency at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York, and Fellowships in Infectious Disease and AIDS Prevention at the University of California, San Francisco. He also holds Master's Degrees in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley and the History and Philosophy of Science from Kings College, London. Dr. Bangsberg's research focuses on social behavioral factors related to HIV treatment access, treatment adherence and treatment outcomes in impoverished populations.  Dr. Bangsberg has published over 150 manuscripts and raised over 40 million dollars in funding related to the study of social, behavioral, and structural determinants of HIV treatment in vulnerable populations. He is on the Editorial or Advisory Boards of PLOS Medicine, JAIDS, AIDS Patient Care and STDs, AIDS Care and AIDS and Behavior.

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David Durack, MD

Dr. David T Durack is Senior Vice President, Corporate Medical Affairs and Director of Pre-Clinical and Clinical Development for Becton Dickinson (BD), and Consulting Professor of Medicine at Duke University. He graduated from University of West Australia Medical School ’69, and undertook postgraduate studies at Oxford University ’70 -’73 as a Rhodes Scholar, leading to Doctor of Philosophy ’73. His doctoral thesis was titled "Experimental Endocarditis". He held internship and residency posts at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford with further training at the Royal Post-graduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, London. His research has centered on host-parasite interactions and chemotherapy of bacterial and fungal infections. For 17 years he was chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health at Duke University. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (UK), the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and the American College of Physicians; he has published more than 200 articles and textbook chapters and co-edited several textbooks. Dr. Durack has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Council of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the American Academy of Microbiology. He has served on an FDA Review Panel, as Chairman of the Board of Directors, ASM Resources Inc., and as a Director of Joint Commission Resources.

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Nick Hellmann, MD

Dr. Nicholas Hellmann serves as executive vice president of medical and scientific affairs at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. In this position, he provides strategic direction for programs and research initiatives, ensuring that children are at the forefront of medical and scientific breakthroughs. Prior to assuming his current position, Hellmann was the program leader of the HIV/AIDS program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he was responsible for strategy, research, program, and policies related to HIV/AIDS for the Foundation. He has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, having worked with industry leaders like Roche Molecular Systems, ViroLogic, Gilead Sciences, Genentech, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Hellmann received his MD degree from the University of Kentucky in 1982, and completed his internal medicine residency and infectious diseases fellowship training at University of California San Francisco (USFC), where he later became an assistant professor in the internal medicine/infectious diseases division. While on staff at UCSF, Hellmann conducted research in Uganda to identify HIV risk factors and develop effective intervention strategies to reduce heterosexual HIV transmission.

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Paul Volberding, MD, CHAIR

Dr. Paul Volberding is a professor and vice chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and chief of the Medical Service at the San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Chicago and the University of Minnesota, respectively, and finished training at the University of Utah and the UCSF, where he studied for two years as a research fellow in the virology laboratory of Dr. Jay Levy, later a co-discoverer of HIV. For twenty years, Dr. Volberding’s professional activities centered at San Francisco General Hospital where he established a model program of AIDS patient care, research, and professional education. His research career began with investigations of HIV-related malignancies, especially Kaposis Sarcoma. His primary research focus, however, shifted to clinical trials of antiretroviral drugs. He has been instrumental in testing many compounds, including early studies in asymptomatic infection that lead to the concept of HIV disease, not simply AIDS as the target of treatment. Dr. Volberding has written many research and review articles. He is the co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, and a founder of HIV InSite, a comprehensive source of HIV information. He is the founder and chair of the Board of the International AIDS Society - USA. He also served as President of the HIV Medical Association. He was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1999.

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