Women Making a Difference

One Woman Dedicates Her Career to Researching an AIDS Vaccine

	Gwynn at the opening of IAVI’s Southern Africa office in 2006. Source: IAVI

Gwynn Stevens

Gwynn Stevens was not always focused on ending the AIDS pandemic.  A South African born and bred, who has lived nearly her entire life in Johannesburg, Gwynn went to university to study genetics and molecular biology. Her postgraduate work took her around the country, establishing support groups for individuals and families affected by the genetic disorder albinism, and along the way she got the earliest glimpse of HIV – at that time a virus no one dared to talk about, for fear of the harsh stigma that accompanied the disease.

As Gwynn advanced in her studies and obtained her PhD, HIV/AIDS continued to ravage her country. In the early 1990s, while she worked with the Domestic Workers Association to build a crime watch team, Gwynn saw nearly one-third of the group’s members perish due to AIDS in just three years. After observing fear and stigma prevent South Africans from getting tested or treated, Gwynn knew she wanted to join the effort to defeat the epidemic.

She changed the course of her career from genetics to HIV research and diagnostics, and joined South Africa’s national health lab for HIV diagnosis and the monitoring of antiretroviral therapy. From that vantage point she witnessed the epidemic continue to wreak its havoc, particularly on women, who often don’t have the autonomy to protect themselves from HIV infection.

Gwynn committed herself to making lifesaving technologies accessible to those who need them most. She worked to develop affordable new assays for HIV testing and to ensure that the South African Government provided measures to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. Then, eight years ago, she was approached by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a USAID-funded public-private partnership dedicated to developing an effective, accessible preventive AIDS vaccine.

When IAVI approached Gwynn and asked her to establish a national support laboratory for clinical trial research centers across Africa, she had to turn them down. Why? Because the position was centered in the West, and Gwynn knew she had to stay in South Africa and continue on her mission to help ease the burden of AIDS in the area where it was felt the most. IAVI knew it couldn’t pass up someone like Gwynn, though, and agreed to let her operate out of South Africa.

In her years-long tenure at IAVI, Gwynn has helped to establish a respected clinical laboratory network across the continent, enabling African scientists and partners to conduct first-rate clinical trials in Africa – a feat some said couldn’t be done. Although an effective AIDS vaccine may not be developed for years to come, Gwynn’s work fulfills her mission to help South Africa beat the AIDS epidemic. Since the clinical research network was established, it has provided HIV services where there once were none; attracted and retained a host of local scientists, including women; and trained more than 1,000 individuals in Good Clinical Laboratory Practice, thereby greatly improving the standard of many laboratories in Africa and encouraging high-quality clinical research.

Throughout her career, Gwynn has been witness to the progress of one of the most frightening pandemics in history. She has seen the virus destroy fellow South Africans. She has seen cultural barriers cause women to fall prey to AIDS at a much faster rate than men. But Gwynn still has hope. She knows that a vaccine against HIV is possible. She knows it would offer women and girls the opportunity to protect themselves without having to seek permission or consent from others. And she knows that an effective vaccine offers the best hope of ending AIDS forever.

Gwynn knows the battle against HIV/AIDS will be a long and difficult one. But Gwynn can imagine a world without AIDS, and she is doing everything in her power to make that vision a reality.

Story provided by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

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