Frank Tanser, PhD

Prof Frank Tanser is an infectious disease epidemiologist whose research has focused on the epidemiology of important public health problems in rural African communities. His pivotal work over the past 25 years in a South African rural community decimated by HIV has provided substantial insights into the evolving and dynamic nature of the HIV epidemic and its key drivers, informing HIV prevention and treatment efforts in sub- Saharan Africa. His research into the population-level impacts of the antiretroviral therapy (ART) roll-out has led to wide-reaching and rapid changes to government policy on how ART programmes in Africa are designed and implemented. In particular, a seminal study he published in the journal Science was the first to show that nurse-led and decentralised HIV programmes in rural areas could be successful in reducing HIV transmission at the population-level.