Botswana-Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHP)

Logo of Botswana-Harvard AIDS Partnership

The Botswana–Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHP) is a collaborative research and training initiative between the Government of Botswana and Harvard established in 1996. Located in Gaborone, Botswana, the BHP also houses the Botswana–Harvard HIV Reference Laboratory, the largest HIV/AIDS laboratory in Africa, which serves as the reference testing lab for all AIDS activities in Botswana. The BHP is an NIH-funded Clinical Trials Unit site for various trial networks including the HIV Prevention Trials Network, AIDS Clinical Trials Group, the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Group, and the HIV Vaccines Trial Network. The BHP has also been an attractive site for U.S. medical and graduate students, and participates as a site for the FIC AIDS International Training and Research, Scholars, Fellows, and Fulbright programs.


Site Directors

Dr. Shahin LockmanPicture of Dr. Lockman, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Associate Physician in Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston MA
slockman@hsph.harvard.edu

Dr. Lockman is an infectious-disease trained clinician, and has conducted epidemiologic, implementation science, and clinical trials investigation related to HIV-1 in Botswana since 1996, including placebo-controlled randomized HIV treatment and prophylaxis trials; clinic- and community-randomized implementation studies of approaches to treatment and prevention of HIV and related conditions; and observational cohorts. Much of her research has focused on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, optimizing treatment of pregnant women living with HIV, and the health and neurodevelopment of HIV-exposed/uninfected (HEU) children. She helped establish (in 2006) and serve as the PI of the Botswana Clinical Trials Unit at the Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHP), which conducts ACTG, IMPAACT, and HPTN network trials; and am protocol chair for the multi-site IMPAACT 2010 RCT which is evaluating safety and efficacy of DTG- vs. EFV-based antiretroviral treatment regimens in pregnant women.

Picture of Dr. Joseph MakhemaDr. Joseph Makhema, Chief Executive Officer, BHP
jmakhema@bhp.org.bw

Dr. Makhema is Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHP), where he oversees all clinical research and training projects. He joined BHP as Senior Clinical Research Manager and Co-Director in 2003. He became BHP Project Director in 2006. A specialist physician by training, he also participates in the clinical conduct of research trials, capacity building, and training initiatives at the BHP.


Site Mentors

Picture of Dr. Joseph MakhemaJoseph Makhema, Chief Executive Officer
jmakhema@bhp.org.bw

Dr. Makhema is Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHP), where he oversees all clinical research and training projects. He joined BHP as Senior Clinical Research Manager and Co-Director in 2003. He became BHP Project Director in 2006. A specialist physician by training, he also participates in the clinical conduct of research trials, capacity building, and training initiatives at the BHP.

Dr. Mosepele Mosepele, Associate Professor, Internal Medicine & Infectious Diseases
mosepele.mosepele@gmail.com

Dr. Mosepele is committed to work on HIV prevention, treatment and associated co-morbidities. Specifically, he is interested in work that explores the role of stigma in HIV uptake testing, especially HIV testing among men in resource limited settings. Among those persons living with HIV (PLWH), he is committed to research on ensuring that these persons can attain viral suppression all the time, and also how we can minimize the effect of non-infectious complications (cardio-metabolic, inflammation) in impairing organ dysfunction, and/or accelerating the aging process among PLWH.

Picture of Sikhulile Moyo Dr. Sikhulile Moyo, Laboratory Director, Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership Clinical Trials Laboratory
smoyo@bhp.org.bw

Dr. Moyo oversees the laboratory components of all of BHP’s clinical trials and observational studies. He has been involved in the design and implementation of surveillance for prevalent and incident infections, transmitted drug resistance, and the phylodynamics of the local epidemic. Dr. Moyo is an alumnus of the HBNU Fogarty Global Health Training Program.

Dr. Peter Vuylsteke, Senior Lecturer, Department of Internal Medicine, Oncology, University of Botswana
Vuylstekep@ub.ac.bw

Dr. Vuylsteke is an Internist and Medical Oncologist and currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Botswana (UB). Dr. Vulysteke’s current work is in Botswana on breast cancer prevention and care, through various implementation programs. He has extensive clinical patient care experience spanning two decades, with eight of those years spent in a clinical leadership position. He was the past President of the Belgian Society of Medical Oncology (BSMO). Currently, he coordinates the Global Oncology Fellowship in Botswana.