Simani Gaseitsiwe works as a Research Associate and a Principal Investigator at BHP where he was previously the Laboratory Director. He is a molecular virologist by training with a PhD from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden and a BSc in Medical Laboratory Sciences from University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA.
With over 24 years of infectious disease research experience, his research focuses on infection biology, aiming to understand how different pathogens interact with the human host. His primary pathogen of interest is HIV and his research on HIV focuses on understanding its diversity and how HIV-1 subtype C responds to antiretroviral therapy (ART) especially the drug resistance mutations that develop in response to exposure to different antiretrovirals. His work has helped optimise HIV treatment and prevention as well as better monitor treatment outcomes in HIV-1C infection. He has been part of landmark studies at BHP including those on prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV and HIV treatment.
Other pathogens of interest in his research group include hepatitis B virus,hepatitis C virus, hepatitis D virus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), and SARS CoV-2. For these pathogens, Simani’s groups interest has been in understanding their molecular epidemiology in Botswana and how they interact with HIV. Simani has supervised over 20 graduate students(Masters, PhD and Postdoc) and has published over 140 peer-reviewed papers in reputable international journals. He serves in a number of technical committees of the Botswana Ministry of Health and is an academic editor for a number of international peer reviewed journals.
