Fareed Abdullah

Dr Fareed Abdullah is a medical doctor and honorary professor of public health medicine at the University of Pretoria. He is the Director for the Office of AIDS and TB Research at the South African Medical Research Council where he manages a portfolio of HIV and TB research. He holds a part-time appointment as an HIV/TB clinician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria.

He has worked on the frontline during the pandemic and manages a portfolio of COVID-19 clinical research at the hospital.

Previously, he has been a senior manager in the Western Cape Health Department for 12 years where he led the implementation of antiretroviral treatment in the public sector. He was Africa Director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (Geneva) from 2008 to 2011 and CEO of the South African National AIDS Council from 2012 to 2017. He co-chairs the South African TB Think Tank, a network of TB experts who advise the National Department of Health on TB prevention and control policy and programming.