Professor Ian Sanne [Division Head, Co-Founder]

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Professor Ian Sanne

Ian Sanne is a co-founder and Division Head of HE²RO. He is has a faculty appointment at the University of Witwatersrand as well as being a founder and managing director of Right to Care and the Clinical HIV Research Unit. He is leading specialist phyiscian in the field of HIV research who recently was elected as International Vice-Chair of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group. His research focuses on providing observational and prospective research to inform prevention and treatment strategies in the resource poor setting, with scientific contributions in the optimisation of treatment strategies, improved diagnostics and public health interventions for HIV and Tuberculosis in over 100 publications. At the intersection of clinical care, and clinical trial administration, Ian Sanne will offer his expertise from his experience as the founding Director and Chief Executive Officer of Right to Care, a large PEPFAR and Global Fund supported non-profit organisation. Ian Sanne has served in a number of leadership roles, both in research and implementation of clinical treatment services. Ian Sanne has led the Wits HIV Research Group since 2003 as CTU Principal Investigator.

Projects

  • Analysing the Impact and Cost of Scaling up Xpert MTB/RIF Technology for TB Diagnosis: The National TB Cost Model (NTCM)

    In the South African context, smear microscopy and other conventional TB diagnostic technologies that have been used for decades, are no longer reliable, because many HIV-positive tuberculosis patients are smear-negative, and the long time to diagnosis means that many patients die without having started TB treatment. In December 2010 the GeneXpert System using the Xpert MTB/RIF assay received a strong recommendation from the World Health Organization as the initial test in individuals with HIV 

  • Investigating the Feasibility of Implementation of Multi-Disciplinary Point-of-Care Testing in an HIV Treatment Clinic Using a Randomised Controlled Trial

    A major challenge to successful implementation of both antiretroviral and anti-tuberculosis therapy in low-resource settings remains the ability to diagnose and monitor the progress of both infections, a process that is hampered by lack of laboratory infrastructure, technical skill and poor integration of HIV and TB services. Recent technological innovations in the Point of Care (POC) testing arena promises to alleviate the problem by providing access to on-site laboratory tests with the future 

  • Rapid Initiation of Antiretroviral Treatment (RapIT) for Pregnant Women

    Alongside the primary RapIT study, we are enrolling pregnant women at a public clinic in Johannesburg in a prospective study of the impact of the guidelines on retention on ART for the duration of pregnancy. We are comparing our main outcome, adherence to ART until delivery, for these women to a retrospective comparison group who received PMTCT under earlier 

  • RapIT: Rapid Initiation of Antiretroviral Therapy to Promote Early HIV/AIDS Treatment in South Africa

    The RapIT study was a randomized strategy evaluation of the feasibility, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of rapid ART initiation using accelerated clinic procedures and point-of-care laboratory tests. Outpatient, non-pregnant, HIV-positive adults who came to two South African clinics for an HIV test or CD4 count, consented to study participation, and were eligible for ART under 2010 guidelines were randomized 1:1 to rapid ART initiation or to standard care. Those who were assigned to 

Publications