Francois W. D. Venter MD, FCP, PhD

Professor WD Francois Venter, MD, FCP, PhD is the Executive Director of Ezintsha at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where he received most of his training. He has an active interest in public sector access to HIV and chronic care services. His work involves health systems research that directly translates into national programs, most recently involving the antiretrovirals, dolutegravir, TAF, rilpivirine, and cabotegravir, as well as COVID-19 antivirals.

He leads multiple antiretroviral treatment optimization studies and is currently working on new first-line options, as well as patient linkage-to-care interventions and self-testing projects. He has led large PEPFAR-funded HIV programs in South Africa, focusing on men, women, children, young people, truckers, sex workers, and LGBTI communities.

For over 20 years he has been an advisor to bodies such as the South African government, UNAIDS, and WHO, contributing to international, regional, and national HIV guidelines. He was part of the South African government’s COVID-19 Ministerial Advisory Committee.

He is currently a member of the Department of Science and Technology Research and Innovation Committee, advising on COVID-19 research and innovation needs. He has been involved in several HIV-related human rights cases within the Southern African region and has an active interest in medical ethics. He supervises a large number of master’s and PhD projects.

Recent work has included publications in the Lancet HIV, New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Communications, AIDS, and PLOSMedicine.