Rafick Sekaly obtained a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Lausanne and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (Switzerland). He joins Emory from Case Western Reserve University, where he was Richard J. Fasenmyer Professor of Immunopathogenesis, co-director of the Center of Systems Immunology, and co-leader of Case Western’s COVID-19 task force. Sekaly is one of the world’s leading researchers focused on a cure for HIV/AIDS and has led fundamental work on the persistence of the HIV reservoir and the progression of HIV infection. He has partnered with companies using gene therapy for clinical trials to make immune cells resistant to HIV. Sekaly’s lab has also pioneered comprehensive systems approaches to study immune memory and immune responses to vaccines. From 2009 to 2014, Sekaly was the scientific director of the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute in Florida and was previously based at the University of Montreal and McGill.