New Chair Appointed to amfAR’s Scientific Advisory Committee

Lishomwa “Lish” Ndhlovu, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed to a three-year term as chair of amfAR’s Scientific Advisory Committee, a volunteer group of leading researchers that reviews grant applications submitted to amfAR.

Dr. Ndhlovu is Professor of Immunology in Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, where he is the director of the Laboratory of HIV Immunopathogenesis and Emerging Pathogens. The Ndhlovu Laboratory is dedicated to studying the treatment of organ-specific complications related to HIV, particularly in treatment-experienced patients across a variety of ages. In 2021, Dr. Ndhlovu and two other principal investigators received a $26 million grant as a Martin Delaney Collaboratory, the premier National Institutes of Health program for HIV cure research. The funded program is the HIV Obstruction by Programmed Epigenetics (HOPE) Collaboratory, a multi-center partnership with Gladstone Institutes and Scripps Research.

“We are delighted that Dr. Ndhlovu has agreed to take the helm of our Scientific Advisory Committee,” said Kevin Robert Frost, amfAR’s chief executive officer. “He brings the perfect mix of expertise and experience to the role and I have no doubt he’ll do an excellent job of overseeing the committee’s deliberations and ensuring that our precious funds are invested wisely.”

At Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Ndhlovu is also a faculty member of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, where his focus is on HIV and the brain. He is co-editor-in-chief of AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses and has published over 100 articles in scientific journals.

Dr. Ndhlovu earned his medical degree at the University of Zambia Medical School and his Ph.D. in immunology at Tohoku University School of Medicine in Japan. He also completed postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco. He was selected to become a fellow of the American Society of Microbiology in 2021.

“Dr. Ndhlovu is a highly respected scientist whose background and research goals are perfectly aligned with amfAR’s single-minded pursuit of a cure for HIV,” said Dr. Rowena Johnston, amfAR VP and director of research. “His leadership and expert insights will help keep us on a path to achieving a cure as rapidly as possible.”

---