Willem Hanekom

Executive Director, Africa Health Research Institute

Willem Hanekom is Executive Director of Africa Health Research Institute.

The Africa Health Research Institute is a KwaZulu-Natal research institute working on HIV and TB, formed in 2016 from the Africa Centre and K-RITH. Hanekom is a TB vaccine specialist who came from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In the job

  1. AHRI named Hanekom its new director after an international search, succeeding Deenan Pillay. Source

Career before

  1. from 2011Director, South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative, University of Cape Town
  2. 2013-2019Leader of the TB vaccine group, then Deputy Director in the TB and HIV team, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Education

Medicine at the University of Stellenbosch; paediatrics in South Africa; paediatric infectious disease and research immunology in the USA

Sources

  1. ahri.org
  2. ahri.org
  3. dailymaverick.co.za
  4. who.int

Facts last checked 3 November 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.

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