Kamini Gounder

Kamini Gounder leads AHRI’s Education and Training programme that facilitates skills development and career progression for trainees and faculty. She also holds an Honorary Senior Lecturer position at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa. She previously held positions as a Faculty member at the HIV Pathogenesis Programme (HPP) at UKZN, Research Associate at AHRI, and an Honorary Senior Research Associate position at the University College of London (UCL), UK. Gounder completed her PhD at the University of Free State, in the Free State Province of South Africa in 2009. She then pursued a post-doctoral fellowship before becoming a research scientist at HPP. She has gained over 10 years experience in HIV-1 research. Her research interests included investigating the impact of immune selection pressure on HIV-1 sequence evolution, contributing to understanding the HIV-1 genetic diversity amongst key populations in sub-Saharan Africa and the use of broadly neutralising antibodies as a preventative/therapeutic strategy. She has authored several publications and managed teams of scientists, students, and administrative staff. She has been the recipient of several research fellowships and grants and has presented her work at numerous scientific meetings worldwide. Gounder is concurrently the Project Manager for a clinical trial currently running at HPP.