Prof Neil Martinson

Prof Martinson has contributed to innovative research in HIV and tuberculosis (TB) prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in South Africa and other high burden settings. As the Executive Director of PHRU for 11 years, he has supported early-stage investigators, and helped pivot its research focus to malignancies, diabetes, and health-related technology and machine learning.

He has conducted several large cohort studies targeting COVID-19, advanced HIV disease and TB. and has tested novel TB diagnostics, and the impact of TB and other HIV-related illness on survival. He has recently shown the tragic impact of severe infections on prognosis of people living with HIV despite being virally suppressed.

His research has identified populations with high rates of undiagnosed TB and asymptomatic TB, and he has reported on prevention of vertical HIV transmission and the selection of viral resistance. He has conducted numerous individual and cluster randomized trials, many of which have informed policy on prevention and treatment of TB.