IPM Welcomes New Board Member Dr. James McIntyre

Dr. McIntyre is a renowned expert in mother-to-child transmission of HIV and HIV in women

SILVER SPRING, Md. (January 30, 2012) – The International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) today announced the appointment of Dr. James McIntyre to its Board of Directors.

Dr. McIntyre has decades of experience and expertise in HIV research and programming. He currently serves as executive director of the Anova Health Institute, a nonprofit research and technical assistance organization established to improve health care in South Africa, with a particular focus on HIV/AIDS.  He is also the international vice-chair of the International Maternal Paediatric and Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network, the leading global collaborative research network on HIV in women and children, which is funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. McIntyre also leads the NIH-funded Comprehensive International Program of Research on AIDS in South Africa, and is an honorary professor in the School of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town.  Previously, he was the co-founder and served as executive director of the Perinatal HIV Research Unit of the University of the Witwatersrand, based at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, one of Africa’s largest AIDS research centers working in HIV prevention, treatment, care, and vaccines.  

“I am honored to serve as a member of IPM’s Board of Directors,” said Dr. McIntyre.  “I look forward to furthering IPM’s goal of developing safe, effective, and affordable microbicides, as well as other HIV prevention and reproductive technologies that aim to improve women’s health.”

Dr. McIntyre’s dedication to HIV research has earned him international recognition as an expert on mother-to-child transmission of HIV and HIV in women.  He has published widely in this field and has served as a consultant to the WHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF, where he advised on best practices around HIV in pregnancy.  He has chaired the WHO’s Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Guideline Committee since 2004. Dr. McIntyre and Dr. Glenda Gray—his colleague at the Perinatal HIV Research Unit—jointly received the 2002 Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation; the 2003 “Heroes in Medicine” award of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care; and the 2009 N’Galy-Mann Award of the Foundation for Retrovirology and Human Health for their work in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission.

“We are privileged to have Dr. McIntyre join our Board,” said IPM CEO Dr. Zeda Rosenberg.  “His wealth of experience in HIV in Africa, as well as his expertise in maternal health, will be invaluable to IPM as it moves into microbicide efficacy studies and expands into maternal health/family planning product development, exploring products such as a dual-purpose HIV prevention-contraceptive ring.”

Dr. McIntyre joins at an important milestone in IPM’s work—the 2012 launch of a licensure program for IPM’s most advanced microbicide, a vaginal ring containing the antiretroviral drug dapivirine.  The licensure program, which will be conducted in collaboration with the NIH-funded Microbicide Trials Network, will include two efficacy trials and collect long-term and other key safety data. 

About IPM: IPM is a nonprofit product development partnership dedicated to developing new HIV prevention technologies and making them available to women in developing countries. IPM has offices in the United States, South Africa, and Belgium. To learn more, please visit www.IPMglobal.org.

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Contacts:

Leonard Solai (Africa), lsolai@IPMglobal.org, +27 (21) 860 2314

Holly Seltzer (US), hseltzer@IPMglobal.org, +1 301-608-4277