Prof Kogieleum Naidoo is a clinician-scientist and global leader in tuberculosis (TB) and TB-HIV research, globally recognized for pioneering integrated TB-HIV treatment strategies that have shaped international guidelines and clinical practice. She serves as Deputy Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), Director of the SA MRC CAPRISA HIV-TB Pathogenesis and Treatment Research Unit and is an Honorary Associate Professor in the College of Health Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Her research focuses on optimizing treatment strategies for TB-HIV co-infected individuals, improving outcomes in drug-resistant TB (DR-TB), and advancing TB prevention through large-scale, multi-country clinical trials.
Prof Naidoo has led numerous Phase II and III clinical trials that have shaped global policy and clinical practice. She was a lead investigator of the landmark CAPRISA SAPiT trial, which provided the scientific foundation for integrating TB and HIV treatment, guidance now incorporated into international treatment guidelines. She currently serves as Principal Investigator on several major international studies, including an EDCTP-funded multi-country trial evaluating all-oral regimens for DR-TB, innovative strategy trials to improve DR-TB outcomes and an NIH-funded adaptive trial assessing mHealth and conventional adherence support interventions to optimize treatment outcomes.
Her leadership extends to TB prevention research through major international, multi-centre trials, and to interdisciplinary research strengthening TB treatment and care strategies across diverse settings. She also serves on multiple safety monitoring committees overseeing clinical trials aimed at improving TB treatment and prevention.
Prof Naidoo contributes extensively to global health policy and scientific leadership. She serves as Vice Chair of the NIH Advancing Clinical Therapeutics Globally (ACTG) Tuberculosis Transformative Science Group, is a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) HIV Clinical Guidelines Development Committee, a member of the External Advisory Board of the Emory Georgia TB Research Advancement Centre, and as a member of the O.R. Tambo Research Chair Advisory Committee. Nationally, she contributes to TB strategy through roles on the TB Vaccine Technical Working Group under the National Advisory Group on Immunization, the National Drug-Resistant TB Clinical Advisory Committee, and the National TB Think Tank, contributing to national and global policy development and implementation. She also reviews for leading international journals.
A prolific scholar, Prof Naidoo has authored over 220 peer-reviewed publications, with an h-index of 39 and more than 11,000 citations. She has mentored over 100 undergraduate and postgraduate students, the majority from previously underprivileged backgrounds, reflecting her strong commitment to equity and research capacity strengthening. As Principal Investigator of a PEPFAR-funded Health Systems Strengthening Programme, she developed and successfully implemented a training curriculum on advanced clinical care (ACC) for complex HIV and TB-HIV. This curriculum, along with the training materials and manuals have been successfully adopted by the South African National Department of Health and continues to strengthen capacity of thousands of frontline healthcare workers each year.
Her contributions have been widely recognized. She received the South African Medical Research Council Post-Intern Research Scholarship (1994), the Fogarty Ellison Research Scholarship in Global Health (2005), and the Union Scientific Prize from the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (2013). She received the EDCTP Outstanding Female Scientist Award (2023) and the South African Medical Research Council Silver Medal Merit Award (2024). Prof Naidoo has been elected as a member into the Academy of Science of South Africa (2022), inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa (2023) and as Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (2025). Her work has transformed TB-HIV care globally and continues to shape equitable, evidence-based health systems in high-burden settings.
Contact Details
Address: Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X7, Congella, 4013, South Africa
Tel office: +27 31-260-4687
Email: kogie.naidoo@caprisa.org