Irina Petrenko, MD, Deputy Director of the Kazakh Scientific Center of Dermatology and Infectious Diseases

Irina Petrenko took practical part in the development of the sanitary and epidemiological service of the Republic of Kazakhstan. During her work at the Kazakh Scientific Center of Dermatology and Infectious Diseases, she participated in the preparation of proposals for legislative acts, as well as the development of regulatory legal acts on HIV infection. She is the author of a collection of normative documents on HIV infection, criteria for assessing the activities of regional AIDS centers. Provides guidance on the organization of anti-epidemic and preventive measures for HIV infection in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

She is the author of numerous articles and publications, has certificates of registration of an intellectual product for the development and use of new methods of medical-statistical and analytical assessment of the main medical-technological processes in the hospital.

Catherine Hankins is Senior Fellow, Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development; Professor of Public and Population Health, School of Population and Global Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University; Co-Chair Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force.

A community medicine specialist, Professor Hankins was principal investigator of The Canadian Women’s HIV Study, studies involving prisoners and people who inject drugs, and population-based epidemiological studies before joining the UN. Chief Scientific Adviser to UNAIDS in Geneva for a decade, Cate led the scientific knowledge translation team focused on ensuring ethical and participatory HIV prevention trial conduct, convening mathematical modelling teams, and supporting country implementation of proven biomedical HIV prevention modalities. She developed Good Participatory Practice Guidelines for trials of Emerging Pathogens for the World Health Organization. She chairs the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership Scientific Advisory Committee and the US National Institutes of Health HIV Prevention Trials Network Scientific Advisory Group. Honorary Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, she is a trustee of the HIV Research Trust and International AIDS Society Industry Liaison Forum member. Keenly interested in scientific capacity development and advancing women in global health and science, she was Scientific Chair of six annual African INTEREST conferences on HIV treatment, pathogenesis, and prevention research (2015 Harare, 2016 Yaoundé, 2017 Lilongwe, 2018 Kigali, 2019 Accra, 2020 Windhoek) and Co-Chair of EECA INTERACT 2019. She was named to the Order of Canada in 2013.

Michel Kazatchkine, Special Advisor to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, senior fellow, Global Health Centre, the Graduate Institute.   

Michel has over 30 years of experience in the fight against AIDS as a leading physician, researcher, administrator, advocate, policy-maker, and diplomat.  He attended medical school in Paris and has completed postdoctoral fellowships at St. Mary’s hospital in London and Harvard Medical School. He is Professor of Immunology at Université René Descartes in Paris and has authored or co-authored over 500 publications. Professor Kazatchkine has played key roles in various organizations, serving as director of the national Agency for Research on AIDS in France (1998-2005), and as French ambassador on HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases (2005-2007).

In 2007, Professor Kazatchkine was elected Executive Director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a position in which he served until March 2012. Between 2012 and 2017, Professor Kazatchkine served as the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Since 2018, he is the Special Advisor to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He is also a Senior Fellow with the Global Health Centre of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Giorgi Kuchukhidze, MD, MPH,  WHO Regional Office for Europe, Department of Communicable Diseases

Dr. Giorgi Kuchukhidze is a medical doctor with postgraduate training in public health. He works as an epidemiologist in the TB, HIV and other Infectious Diseases Unit of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, coordinating disease surveillance, strategic information and response monitoring activities. Dr. Kuchukhidze is also responsible for the introduction and scale-up of digital health solutions to help fight against TB and HIV. He has been the primary author as well as co-author of several peer reviewed publications in the field of epidemiology.

Igor Gordon, Program Team Lead at the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRA)

Igor has over 14 years of experience in managing PLHIV, HIV services and harm reduction organizations at the national and international level. Key focus areas of Igor’s expertise include key populations, civil society and community engagement, as well as capacity building, and organizational and project management. Igor is responsible for the development and effective implementation of programs according to the strategic objectives of EHRA. He also plays an active role in the mobilization of harm reduction advocates, together with communities of people who use drugs, to ensure the sustainability and efficiency of harm reduction services and to advocate for non-punitive drug policies in the CEECA region based on public health approaches and the protection of human rights. Igor has a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Social Work and a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Business Management.

Daria Podlekareva, MD, PhD, Medical Doctor at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark

Daria Podlekareva  is now a consultant in infectious diseases at the University Hospital in Copenhagen. She is a dedicated researcher and since 2004 has been affiliated with the Copenhagen Centre of Excellence for Health, Immunity and Infections (CHIP). Between 2016 – 2020 she was a vice-chair of the European Working Group on TB/HIV collaborative activities and she is currently coordinating the EACS Guidelines writing group on opportunistic infections.

Daria dedicated many years of her research to study HIV infection and tuberculosis in countries of Eastern Europe. She is a co-founder of a TB:HIV study, a large cohort study of more than 1500 coinfected persons from Eastern and Western Europe and Latin America. She was also a coordinator for the EuroSIDA study in Eastern Europe, a cohort of more than 23.000 HIV+ persons from all over Europe.

Veronica Cretu, Consultant in Open Government & Data for Development, NGO Positive Initiative  (Moldova)

Veronica brings more than 20 years of experience in open government, digital governance, civil society development, stakeholder engagement, public administration reform and policy planning.

She acted as Director of Strategy and Partnerships with the Global Data Barometer during July 2020 – July 2021. During 2016-2018, Veronica acted a national coordinator of the Governance Reforms Scorecard Initiative with the World Bank in Moldova, and during 2019-2020, she supported the development of the HIV/AIDS Scorecard for UNAIDS in Moldova.

During 2007-2008, Veronica coordinated a national scale initiative on HIV/AIDS prevention in Moldova, supported by GIZ. During 2010-2012, she coordinated another national scale initiative related to the implementation of a curriculum on “Decisions for a Healthy Life Style” in all vocational schools and colleges across Moldova, with HIV/AIDS being one of the core components pf the curriculum. During 2006-2008, she led several training and capacity building activities on HIV/AIDS policies at the workplace.

Veronica is currently a member of the Council of Europe Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence. She received her MA in contemporary diplomacy from the University of Malta and completed postgraduate studies in Diplomacy and IT there.

Ala Latco, Deputy Director of the NGO Youth for the Right to Life & Union of Organizations Working in the Field of HIV Prevention and Harm Reduction in Moldova

Ala Latco has more than 20 years of experience in the implementation of HIV prevention and harm reduction programs in the Republic of Moldova. Since 2000, Ala has been leading the country’s initiatives that are known in the country as successful practices in prevention work with injecting drug users. In 2004, she took an active part in the creation of the Harm Reduction Network in the country, now known as the Union of Organizations Working in the Field of HIV Prevention and Harm Reduction, as President of the Union.

Throughout the years, Ala has been actively involved in the development of guidelines, instructions and standards related to the work of harm reduction programs in Moldova. The Union pays special attention to advocating for the quality, sustainability and long-term sustainability of harm reduction programs and increasing government support. Ala holds an MSc in Social Welfare and Population Protection and an MSc in Public Health Management. Along with her activities in the civil sector, Ala has academic experience working as a teacher at the Alecu Russo State University.

Dr. Bauyrzhan Baiserkin, MD, PhD, Chairman of the Medical and Pharmaceutical Control Committee of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Dr. Bauyrzhan Baiserkin is the Chairman of the Medical and Pharmaceutical Control Committee of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

He has authored over 50 scientific papers and three monographs on healthcare organization, and has been involved in epidemiological surveillance and infectious disease control. He helped to establish the scientific rationale for reforming the sanitary-epidemiological services within Kazakhstan’s public health system. During his time as Head of the Kazakh Scientific Center of Dermatology and Infectious Diseases, he has been involved in HIV prevention, leading many studies while developing and implementing various guidelines, policies and standards.

As Chairman of the Medical and Pharmaceutical Control Committee of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Dr. Baiserkin exercises leadership and implements state policy, as well as orchestrates state control and supervision in the provision of medical services and the circulation of medicines and medical devices.

Dr. Baiserkin was trained at the American Center for Infectious Disease Control (CDC, USA), Center for Socio-Economic Cooperation (JICA, Japan), London School of Economics and Business (London, England), and the Charite University Hospital (Berlin, Germany).

Lilit Gevorgyan, MD, Doctor-Phthisiatrician, Department of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis, National Center of Pulmonology, Armenia.

Lilit Gevorgyan is a phthisiologist, or tuberculosis specialist. Gevorgyan started studying medicine in 2008 at the Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU). In 2016, after completing an internship in phthisiology at the YSMU, she started working at the university’s department of tuberculosis (TB), initially as an assistant and later as a lecturer.

Since 2018, she has also been working at the National Center of Pulmonology of the Ministry of Health of Armenia as a TB doctor. Since 2020, she has worked at the outpatient subsection of the drug-resistant department of the National Center of Pulmonology. Since 2018, she has been an Assistant of Pulmonology and TB Consultant of the Ministry of Health in Armenia.