We are pleased to share that Assistant Professor Rayner Tan will be elected to the International AIDS Society (IAS) Governing Council for the term 2026 to 2030, as representative for Asia and the Pacific Islands.
He is a social and implementation scientist whose work focuses on deepening patient and community engagement in health, promoting equity in health and social issues within rational health systems. Besides research, he contributes to several NGOs, in service of people recovering from substance use as well as sex workers, working at the frontline of the HIV response.
HIV is more than just a virus or infectious disease control. The field has historically been a first mover in many areas of science; examples include the conceptual and measurement tools for stigma, social isolation or marginalisation, and implementation of science as a way of closing the gap between what works in trials and what reaches people in the real world.
As a governing council member, Assistant Professor Tan hopes to give voice to the innovations, resilience, and scientific contributions of communities and researchers in the Asia Pacific region.
Through this role, he looks forward to supporting global AIDS response, paying attention to inequities and representing those most underserved in the region. This would also include deepening collaborations with other Singaporean researchers, including colleagues at the Ministry of Health, Communicable Diseases Agency, as well as with clinicians and scientists providing care at the frontlines of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI).