Linda-Gail Bekker

Bekker was born in Zimbabwe.[2] She studied medicine at the University of Cape Town.[3] She intended on becoming a geriatrician, but completed a clinical rotation in KwaZulu-Natal and became interested in HIV and TB research.[4] She saw young people dying from HIV/AIDS and was frustrated that she couldn't help them.[5] Her PhD was funded by the John E. Fogarty International Center.[2] She worked in the Rockefeller University on host immunology.[2] Her doctoral advisor was Gilla Kaplan and she continues to work with her today.[6][5]

In 2009 she won the Royal Society Pfizer Award for her research into tuberculosis epidemiology.[7][8] The funding supported her research in the Nyanga Primary Health Clinic in Cape Town.[8] Bekker is passionate about engagement with communities and peer led education programs.[9] Her community work looks to overcome stigma related to HIV and Tuberculosis.[10] The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, where Bekker serves as Chief Operating Officer, supports the wellbeing of people in South Africa's poorest communities.[11] Her husband, Robin Wood, serves as the Director and CEO.[12] She developed a mobile health van, known as the Tutu tester, which offers screening for pregnancy, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, TB and obesity.[13][10] She is Director of the Desmund Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town, where she integrates best practise and evidence-based information about adolescent treatment and prevention in a robust platform.[14] The centre is funded by the National Institutes of Health.[15] She developed Choices for Adolescent Methods of Prevention in South Africa (CHAMPS); which challenges young men's attitudes to circumcision, encourages young women to use contraception and investigates Pre-exposure prophylaxis.[16] She has also worked on Pregnancy and HIV/AIDS Seeking Equitable Study (PHASES) funded by the National Institutes of Health.[17] She studies the roll out of antiretroviral therapies.[18][19] She is excited about HIV self-testing.[20]

In 2016 she was elected President of the International AIDS Society.[21] She gave the opening address at the International AIDS Society Conference in Paris, where she spoke about new prevention options such as Pre-exposure prophylaxis.[22] In 2018 she was elected to the board of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.[14] She is concerned about Donald Trump undermining the global HIV response.[23][24] She has been a keynote speaker at World AIDS Day.[25]

She has contributed to The Conversation.[26][27][28][29] Bekker enjoys painting and has used street theatre in her community work.[10]

Bekker serves as an advisor to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.[30]

Bekker was the co-lead investigator, along with Glenda Gray, of the Sisonke trial that aimed to give the health-care workers in South Africa early access to COVID vaccines.[31] The phase 3b open label clinical trial ran from 17 February 2021[32] to 15 May 2021,[33] with 478 733 doses given to health care workers.[34] The study tested the efficacy of the Jansen (J&J) vaccine when administered on large scale under South African conditions.[31]