Gilead Sciences, Inc. on 16 Nov 2020 announced the recipients of its first Asia HIV Research Scholar Program. The Program awards up to US$130,000 over a period of two years to support innovative HIV scientific research led by early-career researchers from academic institutions in Asia. 

“We are pleased to bring the Program to Asia to foster innovation in HIV to address clinical challenges faced by this region. At Gilead, we believe in supporting the brightest minds, especially early-career scientists,” said Dr Kuan-Yeh Lee, Director of HIV Medical Affairs, Asia, Gilead Sciences. 

The Program is designed to support basic and clinical research in the field of HIV in areas that include, but are not limited to: HIV treatment and management, HIV prevention, HIV and its complications in specific populations (aging population, women, particular racial groups, etc.) as well as translational research related to HIV. It has received competitive submissions from junior faculty researchers from across China, Hong Kong/Macau, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, two of which emerged as winners of the Program: 

• Takayuki Chikata, PhD, from Kumamoto University, Joint Research Center for Human Retrovirus Infection (Japan), who will focus on identifying and characterizing immune responses among individuals exposed yet tested seronegative to HIV-1, contributing to the development of highly effective vaccines to HIV-1 infection; and
• Yi-Chia Huang, MD, from National Taiwan University Hospital Hsin-Chu Branch (Taiwan), who will be investigating the key immunological profiles that correlate with and may predict serological responses to HBV revaccination among people living with HIV, a population known to be with lower immunogenicity against HBV vaccination.

The Asia HIV Research Scholars Program is part of Gilead’s global Research Scholars Program that was launched in 2008 with a mission to support innovative research from emerging investigators around the world to advance scientific knowledge in areas of unmet need as well as their career development. All research scholars are selected by an independent panel of scientists who are experts in their field and can retain independence over their projects. To date, the Research Scholars Program has awarded US$29 million to more than 200 scholars around the world across multiple disease areas.