IAVI Announces Launch of Fellowship Program in AIDS Vaccine Research and Development

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative is pleased to announce the launch of its Fellowship Program in AIDS Vaccine Research and Development. This new program offers a unique opportunity for talented, young and early-career post-doctoral candidates to train alongside leading scientists in the AIDS vaccine field and contribute to one of the greatest global health challenges in history. IAVI acknowledges the generous support of the Gilead Foundation for this program.

The program aims to engage scientists working outside the field of HIV vaccine R&D and to broaden the pool of researchers working on this scientific challenge. IAVI seeks to draw scientists from areas of the world where the HIV pandemic is most severe and train these scientists to conduct research at the highest of international standards so they can apply these same methods when they return to their home countries. Through the program, Fellows will benefit from IAVI’s broad partnerships in the global North and global South linking government, academic, and private-sector expertise with highly skilled clinical collaborators in Africa and India.

Selected via a competitive application process, Fellows will retain salaried positions for a two- to three-year period and will be strategically placed at a laboratory within IAVI’s global R&D network. Through their work at IAVI, Fellows will have an opportunity to apply their skills and training outside of the lab through IAVI’s advocacy, policy and community-based initiatives. Each Fellow will be paired with an IAVI investigator who is committed to fostering the Fellow’s career advancement and will serve as the Fellow’s primary scientific advisor.

IAVI has begun working with two Fellows who are currently focusing their efforts on identifying immunogens that elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies, generating and testing replicating vectors for use in vaccines and evaluating immune responses to candidate vaccines in animals and humans.

IAVI Fellow Alexandre Calazans noted his commitment to working for an organization that is dedicated to the research and development of an AIDS vaccine. Calazans stated: “I am excited for the opportunity to be a part of an organization that is working to translate scientific results into high-tech products needed to solve one of the world’s biggest health problems. IAVI’s program brings together the best of two worlds, scientists from both academia and industry. The scientific and technical training I will receive during this Fellowship will be valuable for my career development.”