Sody Munsaka

Sody Munsaka is a Neuroimmunology and Infectious Diseases Biomedical Specialist and serves as Associate Professor of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia. He is Chairperson of the University of Zambia Biomedical Research Ethics Committee (UNZABREC) and Dean of the School of Health Sciences at the University of Zambia.

His research focuses on the patho-immune mechanisms of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and their interactions with drugs of abuse and other infectious diseases, including malaria and tuberculosis. He investigates central and peripheral nervous system reservoirs of HIV and studies immune dysfunction in patients co-infected with HIV and Human herpesvirus-8/Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. His work also extends to comorbid conditions such as hypertension in people living with HIV in Zambia.

He holds several leadership and advisory roles, including membership of the University of Zambia Senate, Chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the National Biosafety Authority, a member of the Higher Education Authority Board of Experts, and a member of the WHO Committee of Experts on COVID-19 immunity passport ethics. He also serves as Treasurer of the Immunological Society of Zambia, Board Chairperson of the University of Zambia Lecturers and Researchers Savings and Credit Union (UNZALARU-SACCO) and is a member of the Consortium of Health Research Institutions in Zambia (COHREZ) Board of Directors.