In response to the critical need to catalyze and support emerging leadership in HIV/AIDS prevention in countries hard hit by the epidemic, the MAC AIDS Fund Leadership Initiative was launched in collaboration with Columbia University and UCLA in 2007. In 2009, we were joined by a partner in South Africa, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). The Leadership Initiative is designed to cultivate emerging leaders in South Africa who will make major, sustainable contributions to HIV/AIDS prevention in the context of gender equality. 

 

Since 2007, we have trained five cohorts for a total of 57 Fellows, who are chosen after a competitive nationwide search from throughout South Africa. For the first several weeks of the program, Fellows receive several weeks of training in HIV prevention, gender, and leadership skills. They also design and then implement innovative HIV prevention plans with six months of pilot funding, mentoring, and support. The HIV prevention plans are all connected to the theme of gender equality, one of the major drivers of the AIDS epidemic in South Africa, and a particular emphasis of our work at the HIV Center. 

 

Further, participants become integrated into an extensive and diverse network of prior Fellows that provides mutual support and opportunities for collaboration during and following the Fellowship tenure. The process of building a Leadership Initiative Network in HIV prevention in South Africa has also been continuing, with a major event held in February, 2011. For two days, 37 prior Fellows (pictured above) met in Cape Town with program staff and leadership to explore how the Fellowship experience has transformed their professional lives and to give shape to their plans for the future.

 

New Fellows are not being enrolled at this time. Please direct any inquiries to Associate Program Director Raymond A. Smith, Ph.D. at ras33@columbia.edu.

 

To access a podcast of HIV Center Grand Rounds about the Leadership Initiative, click here.

 

To read more about the Leadership Initiative in the HIV Center E-Newsletter, click here.

 

About the sponsors

Established in 1994 by MAC Cosmetics, the MAC AIDS Fund supports men, women, and children affected by HIV/AIDS globally. Introducing its first VIVA GLAM lipstick that same year, MAC decided that every cent of the selling price of the VIVA GLAM lipsticks would go to the MAC AIDS Fund. VIVA GLAM lipsticks are now sold worldwide, and MAC Cosmetics has provided millions of dollars for the MAC AIDS Fund. The MAC AIDS Fund is the heart and soul of the company – with its employees giving their time, energy, and talent to help those affected by HIV/AIDS worldwide. For more information on the MAC AIDS Fund, visit http://www.macaidsfund.org.

 

Founded in 1987, the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies is a multidisciplinary research center at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University that serves as a national and international hub for research and engagement with a broad range of HIV-infected and -affected populations. For more than 20 years, the HIV Center has played a leading role in advancing research on the HIV prevention needs of women and men, including in South Africa and other parts of the developing world. For more information on the HIV Center, visit http://www.hivcenternyc.org.

 

The UCLA Global Health Institute partners with academic institutions in developing countries to advance prevention, policy, and clinical research for HIV/AIDS and other diseases in all regions of the world. They work with developing-country partners to integrate treatment and prevention of HIV, implement innovative prevention programs, stimulate the implementation of beneficial policies and laws, address gender inequity, and train the next generation of U.S. and developing-country scientists and advocates to continue this essential work. For more information, visit http://www.globalhealth.med.ucla.edu.

 

The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa is a statutory body, established in 1968. It supports development nationally, in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and in Africa. It primarily conducts large-scale, policy-relevant, social-scientific projects for public-sector users, non-governmental organizations and international development agencies, in partnership with researchers globally, but specifically in Africa. The HSRC aligns its research activities and structures to South Africa's national development priorities: notably poverty reduction through economic development, skills enhancement, job creation, the elimination of discrimination and inequalities, and effective service delivery. For more information, visit http://www.hsrc.ac.za/.

 

 

Fellows

 

Cohort 5 :

Thandi Gumbi

Cherae Halley
Londiwe Luthuli

Lorraine Malinga

Leo Mbobi

Mlungisi Mkhize
Patricia Mpala
Muthuphei Netshinombelo
Linda Scott
Kodwa Tyiso
Zolisa Xabadiya

Thobile Zulu  

To view profiles of Cohort 5 (from September 2011), click here

(Photo by Raymond Smith)

 

Cohort 4:

Cheryl Kader
Lerato Makhele
Nsununguli Mbongolwane
Azwihangwisi Mudzusi
Lindokuhle Ngcobo
Bongiwe Nxumalo
Jacqueline Pienaar
Shomane Pillay
Prim-Rose Shabane
Lunga Sidzumo
Ramadimetja Thobejane
Amelia Vukeya-Motsepe

To view profiles of Cohort 4 (from May 2010), click here.

(Photo by Diane di Mauro)

Cohort 3:

Misheck Dube
Kerry Frizelle
Buyisile Hlabano
Nandipha Jacobs
Zimkitha Mahlungulu
Livhuwani Mashudu Mashamba
Vuyelwa Mtimkulu
Thoko Mnisi
Buyiswa Mpini
Thabo Msibi
Tarryn Nell
Joanne Richards
Cashane Soobiah
Pindiso Ziki

To view profiles of Cohort 3 (from May 2009), click here
(Photos by Joyce Hunter)

 

Cohort 2:

Kholisa Beatrice Gogela
Estelle Heideman
Nwabisa Jama
Fumane Khanare
Matshidiso Maseko
Babalwa Pinky Mazaleni
Romiela Pillay
Carmen Shadwell

To view profiles of Cohort 2 (from October 2008), click here
(Photos by Mark Cap)

 

Cohort 1:

Somaya Latief
Ntokozo Madlala
Constance Sibongile Mamogobo
William Mapham
Joyce Busisiwe Maseko
Nobuntu Matinise
Sybil Nandi Msezane
Mantombi Nala-Preusker
Padmini Patsy Pillay
Jabulisile Tugwana
Wessel van den Berg
Lesley Wood

To view profiles of Cohort 1 (from March 2008), click here
(Photos by Eve Vagg)

 

 

Program Staff

 

Anke Ehrhardt (Principal Investigator, HIV Center)
Thomas Coates (Co-Principal Investigator, UCLA)

Vasu Reddy (Co-Principal Investigator, HSRC, South Africa)

 

Laurie Bruns (UCLA, South Africa)

Mushambi Mutuma (UCLA, South Africa)

Masud Rahman (HIV Center)

Nadia Sanger (HSRC, South Africa)

Raymond Smith (HIV Center)

Patricia Warne (HIV Center)

Lisa Wiebesiek (HSRC, South Africa)

 

 

 

 

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