Meet our Advisory Group members, whose expertise and commitment to strengthening HIV services in the Caribbean help guide this important regional platform. Through their leadership, the Community of Practice promotes the sharing of clinical experience, innovative approaches, and evidence-informed practices across countries.
Members
Dr. Alcaide is an Infectious Diseases specialist, Professor of Medicine, OB/GYN, and Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Alcaide is a physician scientist with over 15 years of experience in HIV research, with focus of HIV treatment and prevention, and comorbidities, for men and women in the US and in international settings.
Dr. Alcaide has made key contributions to understanding the behavioral and biological factors influencing HIV acquisition in women, and on advancing the understudied field on how HIV affects women across the lifespan. Her translational research also focuses on the development of comorbidities for both men and women living with HIV. Her important contributions to science include behind the lead of large national cohorts of people with HIV in the US: The Study of Treatment And Reproductive outcomes (STAR) and the Men AIDS Cohort Study/ Women Interagency HIV Study Combined cohort (MACS/WIHSCCS). These studies serve as platform to conduct high impact translational research on HIV and to mitigate the effect of HIV on reproductive health and on other non-HIV associated comorbidities.
Dr. Tai Hunte-Ceasar was born and raised in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and graduated as salutatorian of Charlotte Amalie High School in 1997. She earned both her Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Medicine degrees from Howard University before completing an Internal and Social Medicine residency and an Infectious Diseases fellowship at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. She also holds a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of Miami and is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Hunte-Ceasar serves as the Chief Medical Officer for the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Health and is an Infectious Diseases consultant on the Medical Staff at Schneider Regional Medical Center, where she chairs the Infection Control Department. She is the Founding Dean of the University of the Virgin Islands S. Donald Sussman School of Medicine, leading the establishment of the territory’s first medical school. She was honored by Governor Albert Bryan Jr. with the U.S. Virgin Islands Trailblazer Award in recognition of her contributions to healthcare and public service.
Dr. Nikkiah Forbes is a Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Director of the National HIV/AIDS/STI/TB Programme at the Ministry of Health and Wellness of The Bahamas. She also serves at Princess Margaret Hospital, Doctors Hospital, and on faculty at The University of the West Indies, School of Clinical Medicine and Research (Bahamas).
A graduate and valedictorian of The University of the West Indies, she completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine, where she served as Chief Resident, followed by a Fellowship in Infectious Diseases. She is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (FIDSA).
Dr. Forbes serves as the Latin America and Caribbean representative on the UNAIDS Expert Evaluation Panel, is Chair of the Pan-Caribbean Partnership on HIV and AIDS Priority Areas Coordinating Committee, and is an external peer reviewer for WHO guidelines on the management of advanced HIV disease. Her research includes HIV drug resistance, national PrEP outcomes, and COVID-19 diagnostics, including GenMark platform evaluation. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and is a recipient of The Bahamas National Merit Order of Distinction for contributions to health.
Dr. Robert Paulino-Ramírez is Principal Investigator and former Director of the Institute for Tropical Medicine and Global Health at Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Clinical Associate Professor at Michigan State University. He earned his medical degree from Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, trained in microbiology and molecular virology at Michigan State University, completed a fellowship in infectious diseases and HIV/AIDS through Weill Cornell Medical College, and holds graduate degrees in tropical medicine (Royal College of Physicians/London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), public health and epidemiology (Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo) and Specialty on Emerging Viruses and Biocontaintment Units (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid).
For nearly two decades, Dr. Paulino-Ramírez has worked at the intersection of clinical care, research, and policy in the HIV response. He authored the Dominican Republic’s national HIV/AIDS treatment guidelines and PrEP implementation strategy for the Ministry of Public Health, and his research spans PrEP and PEP scale-up, HIV self-testing, DoxyPEP, mother-to-child transmission elimination, HIV-2, drug resistance surveillance, and stigma reduction among key populations, including transgender women and men who have sex with men. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, serves on the editorial boards of PLOS Global Public Health and BMC Global Public Health, and led the Dominican Republic’s COVID-19 and mpox outbreak responses as Scientific Director of the national pandemic emergency committee.
Valerie Wilson is the Director of the Caribbean Med Labs Foundation – the “regional champion for laboratory services in the Caribbean”. She is an Immunologist and public health professional with over 30 years of experience in service of regional Ministries of Health, laboratories both public and private, training institutions responsible for training laboratory personnel, civil society organisations and the general public.
She managed the regional reference laboratory at the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) before implementing a major project for strengthening of medical laboratories within the region where medical laboratory standards were adopted by the region and accreditation and certification of laboratories was widely accepted as a desirable goal. As Director of CMLF, she has successfully managed several projects funded by the Global Fund, World Bank and USAID, among others, and engaged in partnerships with PAHO/WHO, CARICOM, the OECS Commission, Caribbean Vulnerable Communities (CVC) and others to improve the quality of laboratory services and testing for HIV/AIDS, STIs, TB, COVID and other communicable and non-communicable diseases. As Co-Chair of the WHO Global Advisory Committee (GVAC) and a former member of the PAHO Regional Validation Committee, she is actively engaged as a Laboratory Expert in the initiative for Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission (EMTCT) of HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis B.
Sandra Jones is from Belize and has worked with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for twenty -five (25) years as a public health expert. Her work is mainly with Caribbean countries with specific focus of HIV/STI, Tuberculosis and Viral Hepatitis. Throughout her work in the Caribbean, Ms. Jones has advocated and provided technical support for the implementation of WHO key recommendations for HIV prevention and treatment both at regional and country level. During her tenure with PAHO she has served as a member of the EMTCT Secretariate and has provided technical guidance to countries that were validated by WHO for the elimination of the mother-to-child transmission of either HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B or dual (HIV & syphilis).
Within the context of improving HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in the Caribbean, Ms. Jones has consistently advocated and promoted the inclusion of adolescents and youth in discussions to develop health strategies for this population. As such Ms. Jones is one of the experts from the Caribbean that has organized and supported the implementation of the Caribbean Conference for Adolescents and youth.
Ms. Jones extensive experience, technical expertise, and commitment to country-driven solutions have made her a valued public health leader in the Caribbean, contributing significantly to the advancement of HIV, STI, tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, and adolescent health responses across the region.
Dr. Omar Gustavo Sued is an Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases Specialist from Argentina, currently serving as Regional Advisor for HIV Treatment and Care at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), the World Health Organization’s office for the Americas, based in Washington, D.C.
He earned his medical degree from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and specialized in Infectious Diseases at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. He later completed a Master’s and PhD in Acute HIV Infection at the University of Barcelona, Spain.
Dr. Sued has worked in HIV care since 1997, across diverse settings. Between 2012 and 2021, he was Director of Research at Fundación Huésped, a leading Argentine NGO focused on HIV and infectious diseases. Under his leadership, the department joined major international research networks such as the HIV Prevention Trials Network, AIDS Malignancies Consortium, and HIV Vaccine Trials Network.
Dr. Sued was President (2019-2021), Treasurer (2015-2019) and Secretary (2013-2015) of the Argentinean Infectious Disease Society. He chaired the National Infectious Diseases Congress in 2016 and 2021. He has contributed to several WHO guideline development groups, including on post-exposure prophylaxis, co-trimoxazole prophylaxis, cryptococcal disease, and antiretroviral therapy. He has authored or co-authored over 175 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and clinical guidelines.
Dr. Sued is also a Governing Council Member of the International AIDS Society (IAS), representing Latin America and the Caribbean. He has actively participated in IAS and AIDS conferences, serving as rapporteur, co-chair, and lead presenter, and is a strong advocate for evidence-based interventions and human rights for people living with HIV.
Dr. Shanti Singh-Anthony is a Guyanese physician and public health leader with over three decades of experience in HIV, tuberculosis, and communicable disease control across Guyana and the Caribbean. She earned her medical degree in 1992 and post graduate certificate in clinical hematology in 1993 from the Russian Peoples’ Friendship University in Moscow, a Master’s in Public Health in 2004 from St. George’s University, Grenada, and International Master’s in 2026 in Donation and Transplantation of Organs, Tissues and Biocells from the University of Barcelona, Spain.
She served as Guyana’s National AIDS Programme Manager (2005–2016), leading the country’s multi-sectoral HIV response. Since 2016, she is the Knowledge Management Coordinator for the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) supporting the Caribbean HIV response.
Dr. Singh-Anthony served on the planning committee of the X1X International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC, in 2012 and as a member of the Leadership and Accountability Committee. She currently chairs the Guyana Human Organ and Tissue Transplant Agency, serves on the Global Fund’s Technical Review Panel as an HIV expert and is a member of the international AIDS Society Mark Wainberg Fellowship Award Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean. She has held teaching appointments at the University of Guyana and Textila Medical School and guest lectured on several occassions at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Dr Dos Santos is a virology specialist. He completed his PhD in Paris, France and joined the University Hospital of Martinique in 1997. He developed molecular management of HIV drug resistance for clinical purposes and participated in WHO surveys of HIV drug resistance in Haiti and OECS countries. In addition to his continuing interest in HIV treatment and drug resistance, his research interests are focused on surveillance of arboviruses and emergent pathogens to gain knowledge on their introduction and circulation in the Caribean era.